May 31, 2005

May 31, 2005 - The federal government's move toward awarding compensation to all former native residential school students won't have an immediate financial impact on the Anglican Church of Canada, according to church officials.

However, the church praised the announcement as an important step forward toward justice for those who attended the schools and a positive development in relations with Canada's indigenous peoples.

"For a long time, our primary goal has been healing and reconciliation – healing for those whose lives have been damaged by their residential schools experience and reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal persons in our church and in society," said Archdeacon Jim Boyles, the general secretary of General Synod, the church's governing body.

AMITE, La. (AP) — At least some of the six people being held in the Tangipahoa Parish jail on charges tied to an alleged sex abuse ring at a church will be moved to other lockups, following an attack on one of the accused, authorities said Monday.

Nicole Bernard, who recently was returned from Ohio to face an aggravated rape charge, was placed in a cell by herself after a group of female inmates attacked her Friday night. Authorities speculated that the attack was triggered by allegations of sexual abuse of children at the now-defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula.

On Monday, authorities decided to move some of the accused to other jails, said Laura Covington, a spokeswoman for the Tangipahoa Parish sheriff. She said the names of the prisoners that would be moved, along with their new locations, would not be released until the transfers are complete.

Covington said moving the prisoners for security reasons had been discussed before the attack on Bernard because of a lack of space in the jail to give each prisoner a single cell.

Mississauga, Ont.
Two years after securing a residential schools agreement with the federal government that limits liability, the national church is signaling that it would like to reopen the agreement to allow claimants the opportunity to sue for loss of language and culture.
Under the current agreement – the first reached by a Canadian denomination with the government – former students whose claims are validated in an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process are compensated for physical and sexual abuse, but they must sign a full release preventing them from seeking further compensation from the government or the church.
Saying that he believes “the time has come to change our policy and accept a partial release” in resolving native residential school claims, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, secured the permission of Council of General Synod (CoGS) to determine whether this would be “acceptable” to dioceses.

ST. LOUIS - The Missouri Supreme Court said Tuesday it will not rehear the case of a defrocked Roman Catholic priest, after it threw out convictions last month that he exposed himself to boys in a restroom at a St. Louis grade school where he worked as a counselor.

The court had ordered James Beine, 63, to be freed on appeal bond on May 6, but he voluntarily remained in jail while legal proceedings continued because he feared for his safety if he left, his lawyer has said.

A phone call to the Department of Corrections to determine Beine's status was not immediately returned.

Beine was suspended from the priesthood in 1977 over allegations of sexual abuse, and in the mid-1990s the St. Louis archdiocese paid $110,000 to settle two lawsuits that alleged Beine sexually abused boys more than three decades earlier. He was formally removed from the priesthood earlier this month.

The Vatican’s announcement May 20 that Legionaries of Christ founder Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado will face no canonical trial for numerous accusations of sexually abusing seminarians put a spotlight on the new papacy of Benedict XVI, raising questions and drawing harsh criticism from victims.

In many circles, the announcement, widely distributed by the Legionaries, was seen as the Vatican’s way of saying “case closed” on the questions surrounding Maciel and the accusations of sexual abuse first made public by a group of former seminarians and, in recent months, by a growing number of other alleged victims.

Four days after that initial announcement, however, NCR learned that the original statement on the matter was issued not by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has jurisdiction over priest sex abuse cases, but by the Vatican Secretariat of State, which is run by Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a vocal supporter of the Legionaries and a longtime friend of Maciel.

Whether that fact makes any difference in the eventual disposition of the case against Maciel is unclear. The revelation, however, at least clouds the picture and hints at potentially differing agendas within the church’s highest bureaucracy. For while the Secretariat of State said that there is no canonical proceeding, nor is one expected in the future, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at least until recently, was engaged in an extensive investigation that was characterized as preliminary to any canonical action.

If Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the religious order the Legionaries of Christ, were a priest in the United States, he would not be permitted in active ministry.

Some may not consider the U.S. norms ideal, but the crisis caused by the sex abuse scandal and the concomitant crisis of authority in the church demand bold and determined measures. Few cases have generated the notoriety and challenge to the church’s integrity and credibility that the Maciel case has. Maciel was warmly praised by the late Pope John Paul II and, by all accounts, was able to raise enormous amounts of money that have gone to establishing a religious empire in a short time.

Clergy sex abuse victims the world over who have heard pious words and statements of resolve from the hierarchy were waiting to see if the church at the highest levels would discontinue the practice of protecting priests at all costs and do a thorough investigation of the charges against Maciel, as well as a thorough accounting of its findings.

So, when the news reports said that the Vatican had apparently dropped the investigation, had not launched a formal canonical procedure in response to allegations, and that it had no plans to do so, many saw the development as a stinging disappointment. The announcement raised far more questions than it answered. The lack of resolution to the case eventually could be far more damaging to the church’s credibility than the jolt of bad news that might issue from a thorough airing of the case against Maciel.

As it turns out, however, the real problem may not be any decision by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but rather papal palace intrigue involving an old friend of Maciel and the willingness of the Legionaries to mislead the world and allow the misconception to stand until a reporter happened to ask the right question of the right person.

News goes on, uninterrupted by one’s stroll through a garden. And so it was last week when the reports began surfacing that the Holy See had determined that no canonical action would be brought in the sexual abuse accusations against the Mexican priest Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the religious order the Legionaries of Christ.

It appeared for several days that that was the story -- investigation over, case closed.

But Jason Berry, the writer who broke the story of the sex abuse scandal in the United States and who has written an important and engaging book about Maciel, had spent time recently in Mexico interviewing people about Maciel. Those interviews included a number of people who had been recently questioned by a Vatican investigator looking into long-standing abuse charges against the priest. What Jason knew, and subsequently reported, was that there is far more to the story than one would get from either news releases or the Legionaries’ Web site. Jason was just putting the finishing touches on a story about his reporting in Mexico when the Vatican announcement broke.

Most of you know John Allen as a brilliant explainer of the sometimes confusing and inaccessible world of the Vatican. At the service of that brilliance is old-fashioned reporting, dogged pursuit of facts and details. In the case of the Maciel story, John just kept reporting and interviewing and questioning until it became clear from his vantage point that there was more to the story than the simple declarations of the Legion and even the confirmations of the Vatican press office.

The Vatican has sought the intervention of the U.S. State Department to declare Pope Benedict XVI immune from a sexual abuse lawsuit filed here, according to court documents.

A church official contacted the State Department May 20, asking it to notify a Houston federal court of the pope's immunity as the head of a foreign state, according to the defense motion. Vatican attorneys requested a delay on the matter Thursday.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which also was named as a defendant in the suit, could not be reached for comment Friday.

GANDER — A Roman Catholic priest in central Newfoundland has been found not guilty of sexual assault.

The priest, who was charged last August with one count of sexual assault and three counts of common assault, was acquitted Monday in Gander.

The priest cannot be identified because of a court order.

Provincial Court judge Gloria Harding said the fact that the woman waited six months after the alleged first incident to call the police was troublesome.

The judge also found it troublesome that, after three of the alleged incidents, the complainant had willingly posed for pictures with the priest, where the pair were smiling with their arms around each other.

GRAHAM DAVIS: They're called the silent lambs — silent because they've kept their stories to themselves for so long, lambs because as children they were meant to be protected from predators in the Christian flock, but weren't.

SIMON THOMAS: I was the little sheep that needed help — and I'm one of thousands, probably — and they didn't come back to look after me properly.

GRAHAM DAVIS: We've met Simon Thomas before, in a Sunday report I did back in 2002 on the child abuse crisis in the Jehovah's Witnesses.

SIMON THOMAS: I remember that the first time he actually touched me and did something to me, I just, that was a real, it was a real life-changing moment.

GRAHAM DAVIS: Simon Thomas was 12 when he fell prey to this man — Robert Souter. Even when Souter admitted his crimes to church elders, he was allowed to continue as a Jehovah's Witness. He also continued to molest other children. Nearly three years on, Simon is joined by another of those victims. Only now is John Dingham able to confront his own demons, given alcohol and molested by Robert Souter when he was just 13.

OTTAWA, May 30 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister responsible for Indian Residential Schools Resolution
Canada, the Honourable Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General
of Canada, and the Honourable Andy Scott, Minister of Indian Affairs and
Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status
Indians, today announced the appointment of the Honourable Frank Iacobucci as
the Government's Representative to lead discussions toward a fair and lasting
resolution of the legacy of Indian residential schools.
"We need to make important changes to our approach in order to resolve
the often tragic legacy of Indian residential schools, and to settle the
outstanding claims of former students in a more timely way" said Minister
McLellan. "The work of the Assembly of First Nations, in particular, has been
instrumental in helping to highlight the need to recognize the residential
school experience of all former students. We have today signed a Political
Agreement with the Assembly of First Nations that sets out its key role in the
discussions to be led by Mr. Iacobucci" added the Minister.
The Political Agreement outlines the basis on which the Government of
Canada will work with the Assembly of First Nations on issues related to
resolution of the Indian residential schools legacy.

A SECRETIVE international society linked to the occult is using Victoria's religious tolerance laws to sue a Melbourne anti-child abuse activist.

Ordo Templi Orientis has started a suit against psychologist Reina Michaelson over internet claims it is a pedophile cult.

Documents submitted to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal claim Dr Michaelson wrote an internet article linking the society to pedophilia, satanic rituals, and animal and child sacrifices.

Ordo Templi Orientis national officer David Bottrill and member Brent Gray claim Dr Michaelson has vilified and misrepresented the society, which has a base in Gardenvale.

"What is contained on the website could incite hatred and lead to violence against members of the OTO," they said.

Dr Michaelson, who won a Young Australian of the Year award in 1997 for founding the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, said she was not the author but could attest to the article's truth.

"The document . . . that is the subject of the complaint describes the illegal ritual abuse of a young man," she said in a letter to the Equal Opportunity Commission, which referred the society's complaint to the tribunal.

Dr Michaelson, who also runs Bravehearts Victoria, said the society's text, The Book of the Law, advocated illegal activities.

Almost a month after a sensational, hidden-camera television report showing an Anchorage priest seeking sex, the bizarre case of the Rev. Robert Bester remains unresolved. An investigation by the Anchorage Archdiocese is on hold, and a lawsuit is pending. But Bester's parish is moving on -- even if some churchgoers have been left wondering about the oddly behaving priest who served them for less than a year.

The abrupt departure of Bester, a retired Catholic priest from northern Minnesota, stems from an accusation by an unemployed Anchorage man that Bester wanted sex and offered him money and a construction job. The man, Fred May, secretly recorded two of the conversations with the help of a local television station.

The grainy, black-and-white video showing the priest talking dirty aired on KTVA Channel 11 in early May during the key ratings period.

May, who said he was scared by Bester's claim to also be "Dracula," agreed recently to be interviewed about his encounters with the priest.

A sexual assault victim recently sued the Great Falls man convicted of the crime, saying his acts caused physical pain and emotional distress and led to counseling and lost wages.

Roger Earl Cathel, 40, was given a one-year deferred sentence in December 2003 for the charges of sexual assault and indecent exposure. He was ordered to do community service, complete treatment and pay for his victim's counseling. ...

Her lawyer, Mark McLaverty, said sex crime victims suing their attackers isn't new. The Catholic priest scandals are a good example.

"The cases that I've handled have been settled prior to being filed," he said.

May 30, 2005

A Statute of limitations should be placed on criminal proceedings taken against those accused of sexual abuse, one of the country’s leading defence barristers told a conference this weekend.

Patrick Gageby, who has defended individuals accused of sex crimes sometimes decades old, said it may be time for the Government to step in and draw a line in the sand. Mr Gageby suggested a limit of 15 years, adding that all civil cases are subject to time limits, except ironically those relating to claims of sexual abuse.

Speaking at theAbuse Tracker Prosecutors Conference, the defence barrister said there were inherent dangers in old cases, where the key witnesses have inaccurate, faded, changed or intruded memories and where there was little additional or corroborating evidence. In too many cases, a jury trial can turn in to a "pure beauty contest." "Who do you like more, who's the more attractive? Who exactly is telling the truth? It comes down to body movements, gestures and the like," Mr Gageby said.

EATONVILLE -- Four more women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against a minister arrested Friday on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment, police said Monday.

Lura Williams, 71, an itinerant preacher who built a church in Eatonville in 1969 after initially sermonizing from a tent on the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and Wymore Road, turned himself in to police Friday.

A member of his World Wide Revival Center told Eatonville police that Williams, known at the church as Bishop Williams, asked her to come to the church April 26 to discuss some programs.

In a recreational vehicle parked behind the church, a report said, Williams lured the woman to the back, pushed her onto the bed and raped her. She broke away once, then was pushed down again until she was eventually able to escape, according to a police affidavit filed for the arrest warrant.

Williams faced charges for another sexual-assault allegation in 2000, but that case was dropped, Eatonville police Capt. Gene Arrington said. Police were still researching why that case was dropped.

The list of potential victims continues to grow. Five people, so far, have accused bishop Lura Williams of sex crimes, including one woman who says he raped her over and over when she was only 11 years old.

In the tiny town of Eatonville, this stunning case has grown even more disturbing. A man of the cloth is accused of unspeakable acts and at least one alleged victim wasn't even in her teens.

The woman, now 41, told investigators Williams would take her into wooded areas in Sanford and have his way. She has only come forward now after watching the story on Channel 9.

Williams is in jail with no bond, accused of raping a congregant just last month. Monday, police impounded the RV where the woman says the 71-year-old pastor attacked her on April 26. She said Williams invited her over to talk church business, but instead forced her to have sex.

Berhampore Children's Home sex abuse complainants are hopeful of a resolution after meeting Presbyterian Support.

The agency has changed tack in its handling of the former residents' allegations of sexual and physical abuse by justice of the peace Walter Lake, who headed the Wellington orphanage.

At least 14 former residents went to police last year with claims they were sexually abused during the 1950s and 60s by Lake, who was made an OBE for social services in 1986. He died last November, aged 84, just before police were to charge him with sex offences.

Allegations of abuse involving Lake have continued to surface, with three siblings telling The Dominion Post last week that they had suffered sexual and physical abuse for years while at the home.

Complainants and Presbyterian Support representatives met on Friday, after the agency agreed to discuss compensation. They issued a joint statement yesterday saying they were pleased with progress, but would make no further comment "in the interests of sustaining a constructive climate for discussions".

Archbishop William Levada's move to Rome this summer will offer the former San Francisco prelate little respite from the clergy sex abuse crisis in the American Catholic Church.

Levada's new job as Pope Benedict XVI's chief doctrinal watchdog includes leading the Vatican's investigation of hundreds of ordained clergymen suspended from public ministry amid allegations they had sexually abused children.

Anne Burke, the former head of the U.S. bishops'Abuse Tracker Review Board set up to study the abuse crisis, said Levada's new office is overwhelmed with a backlog of some 700 cases.

"Rome has not been set up for these kind of (church) trials,'' said Burke, a state appeals court judge in Illinois.

Burke said U.S. bishops are largely responsible for the backlog because they have not provided adequate information to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which decides whether to permanently suspend, defrock or otherwise discipline accused clerics.

May 29, 2005

HAMMOND, La. (AP) — A woman accused of being part of a group that allegedly abused children and animals within the walls of a now-defunct Ponchatoula church was beaten by other female inmates at the Tangipahoa Parish jail, sheriff's deputies said.

Nicole Bernard, who recently was returned from Ohio to face an aggravated rape charge, was placed in a cell by herself after the Friday night attack.

Chief Deputy Dennis Pevey said several female prisoners apparently were angry at Bernard because of her alleged involvement in the abuse of children.

"It's hard to keep them separated and the other inmates they kind of retaliated," Pevey said. "It's like that's the only offense that somebody can do where known criminals in jail have a problem with. It's OK to be a thief or a burglar, but if you commit a crime against children and (other inmates) say, 'Hey you crossed the line.'"

Prison officials said they would do what they can to keep all the suspects in the case safe. Six of eight suspects are in the parish jail and two others are in the Livingston Parish jail.

The pope is facing new accusations that he 'faked' an investigation into child abuse by a leader of an influential Roman Catholic order to show the world that he was taking tough stance against offenders in order to get himself elected the leader of the Catholic Church.

The disgraced pontiff Bendedict XVI is accused of opening an investigation into the conduct of the alleged serial molester and leader of the Legionnaires of Christ Marcial Maciel in December last year but promptly dropping the investigation after being elected as the pope last month.

The pope last week claimed immunity from prosecution against charges of obstructing the course of justice stemming from secret letter, obtained by the respected British newspaper Observer, that the then Cardinal Ratzinger sent to every Catholic bishop asserting the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to ten years after the victims reached adulthood.

It is believed that the immunity claim is also an attempt to ward of any criminal investigation in the Vatican itself after the Police in Rome busted a pedophile ring run by Roman Catholic priests last week.

"When Ratzinger stepped up the investigation of Maciel, dispensing a priest around the world to take the alleged victims' statements, it seemed that he was positioning himself to be the next pope, shoring up his anti-molester credentials." Mark Oppenheimer wrote in the New Haven Advocate. "And now, no sooner does he become pope than he decides to close down a fruitful investigation into a man accused of being a serial molester of young seminarians."

Three brothers in Yuma who say they were repeatedly raped by a priest will each receive at least $600,000 under terms outlined in revised bankruptcy documents filed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.

The brothers and other victims of clergy sexual abuse who have claims against the diocese could be paid from a total pot of more than $20 million, according to the revised bankruptcy reorganization plan. The amended statement and Chapter 11 plan were filed late Thursday in federal court.

Exactly how many plaintiffs will be dividing the money remains unclear. The Bankruptcy Court has logged 103 claims against the diocese, but they must be approved by the court as valid before claimants are eligible to receive any settlement money. A committee of tort claimants filed a motion Friday disputing 74 of the claims.

Child-abuse victims and Catholic bishops are bracing for a battle in the Ohio legislature that neither side wants.

The anticipated dispute is over a child-protection bill that would allow victims to sue the church in decades-old clergy-abuse cases, most of which are too old to take to court under existing law.

Victims' groups favor the change and the church opposes it.

Both sides agree an ugly showdown in the Ohio House of Representatives, which is considering the bill this month, could hurt everyone involved.

Victims fear a protracted fight in the House could lead to a watered-down version of the bill, and the last thing church officials want is another public confrontation with people who accuse them of mishandling abusive priests.

"It's very difficult," said Dan Andriacco, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. "We're being accused of not being pastoral in our approach to this."

Maurice Jackson, pastor of the New Generation Church in Northeast Columbus, was arrested Friday and charged with gross sexual imposition, and corrupting a minor.

The charges stem from allegations that he sexually molested a little girl. The victim's mother says that Jackson repeatedly molested her daughter over a four-year period, starting when she was seven years old.

Michael Patrick Driscoll didn't go into the priesthood to become a personnel manager. He didn't expect that his career path would include supervising some of the worst priest-pedophiles in Orange County's history.

But in the early years of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, that was his job. From 1976 to 1987, as the diocese's chancellor, Driscoll oversaw personnel matters involving priests. Personnel files released by the diocese over the past two weeks show that Driscoll participated in numerous decisions that gave accused priests the opportunity to remain in ministry.

Driscoll, who today is the bishop of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, has repeatedly apologized for his role in those decisions. Most recently, on May 5, he admitted that his priorities were "horribly misplaced" when he dealt with allegations of abuse in the 1970s and 1980s.

"It is hard for me to understand today how we could not have seen what was happening to the children," Driscoll wrote in a statement posted on the Boise diocese's Web site. "People who know me well know how much I love children. They know that I would never hurt anyone intentionally, especially children."

People who know Driscoll say he is a warm, generous man, an exceptional speaker devoted to his religious calling. During his years in Orange County, he was a champion of the poor. Every Christmas, the rotund Driscoll donned a Santa Claus suit to distribute gifts to disadvantaged children.

May 28, 2005

VaalRand Police's swift action on Monday led to the arrest of two priests in Evaton West.

This is after they were implicated in the rape of a little girl that had apparently endured the abuse from January of this year.

The victim is a learner at a Primary School in Palm Springs. Apparently the girl confessed to her parents after it was discovered that she came home late every day.

Vaal Weekly was told that following the girl's confession after a stint of 'forceful' persuasion from her parents, it was discovered that she is being fetched daily from the school by the pastor who then takes her to the bushes and violates her.

This shocking news comes on the heels of information that the pastor's friend, who also happens to be the man of the robe, once helped himself to the girl by raping her. Stunned members of the community expressed shock that religious leaders are being accused of this ghastly deed.

Editor's note: The Sun Journal does not publish the names of people accused of crimes if those accusations do not result in criminal charges. For that reason, no names released by the state's Attorney General's Office have been included in this article. The list of names is available through the Attorney General's Office.

AUGUSTA - In 1952, a 10-year-old altar boy at a Lewiston church was sent to see a priest at the church.

According to documents released Friday by the Maine Attorney General's Office, the priest took advantage of the boy.

He kissed him and had oral sex with him.

Soon it was happening two or three times a week in the church's sacristy, according to the documents. Each time it happened, the priest paid the boy $5, telling him the money was payment for him not talking.

Years later, after the boy had grown, he told authorities of the abuse, saying that during the four years it was happening, there was no one he could tell since it was his parents who had sent him to the priest to talk about sex.

The allegation is one of dozens accusing a total of 21 Maine priests and brothers - now all dead - of sexually abusing children.

The documents are a compilation of statements from the Maine Roman Catholic diocese, letters from victims and reports from prosecutors, lawyers and the Attorney General's Office.

None of the cases was ever proven in court because, by the time authorities learned of them, the statute of limitations prevented prosecution, said Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin. In the early '90s, state lawmakers removed the statute of limitations for new sex abuse cases.

The documents were released Friday based on a Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling ordering the Attorney General's Office to turn over the records, which included the names of the priests and brothers, and the churches where they served. Nine of them - eight priests and one brother - had been assigned to churches in central and western Maine.

The court also ordered that the names of the victims and their families not be released.

The ruling came after the Portland Press Herald asked the court for the documents, Robbin said.

A national organization that supports people abused by clergy will come to Boise next week to talk about Idaho Catholic Bishop Michael Driscoll's handling of cases of sexual misconduct.

David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday near the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise office at 303 Federal Way. The exact location hasn't been set.

SNAP has criticized Driscoll's handling of priest abuse cases when he was chancellor at the Diocese of Orange in California in the 1970s and 1980s.

Convicted child molester and defrocked priest Earl Bierman is scheduled to go before the Kentucky Parole Board in July to ask for release from his 20-year prison sentence a year and a half early.

He was sentenced in 1993, and with time earned for good behavior, is supposed to complete his sentence in December 2006.

Bierman, 73, was a late addition to the list of inmates the parole board has scheduled for hearings in July, said Campbell Commonwealth Attorney Jack Porter.

Porter said he didn't know why Bierman, who was given a serve-out order by the parole board in 1997, was granted a hearing and wanted more information about his status before taking a position on the request for early release.

Parole officials weren't immediately available for comment on Friday night, so the basis for Bierman's hearing wasn't known. During a previous hearing before the board in 1997, he complained of health problems.

Twenty now deceased Roman Catholic priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children were identified by the Maine Attorney General's office Friday, in compliance with a court order.

The names and supporting documents detail complaints of abuse ranging from the 1930s to the 1970s, in Maine communities from Fort Kent to South Berwick. Some of the priests are named by a single accuser, others by as many as 13.

The allegations were made against 16 priests of the Diocese of Portland, two Jesuits and two Dominican priests. There is also an allegation against one Dominican brother.

The list of the priests is accompanied by letters and statements of victims and witnesses, whose names have been blacked out in the records. Many tell of the emotional pain of childhood abuse that lasts long into adulthood.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport will unveil a monument next month that is dedicated to the dozens of men and women who were sexually molested by eastern Iowa priests in the last 50 years. Bishop William Franklin will lead the blessing on June 20th of the Millstone Marker. Church officials say it's a symbol intended to show respect for the victims and promote healing in the wake of a scandal that roiled the diocese and its parishioners for the last three years. The marker was created as part of the settlement reached with abuse victims last fall.

Land, housing and assets belonging to the nation's largest polygamous community and estimated to be worth more than $100 million were temporarily frozen Friday by a Utah court.

The ruling effectively wrests financial power of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, who for years has controlled the school district, municipal government and most of the property in the isolated towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.

Judge Robert Adkins temporarily froze a trust fund for the church and suspended Jeffs and five other trustees, saying he found sufficient evidence that they committed a breach of faith by selling property to church insiders for less than market value. advertisement ...

"For the past two years, I've worked with the Utah attorney general on a coordinated effort to investigate all credible allegations of child abuse, sexual exploitation, welfare fraud, tax evasion and other financial wrongdoing. The events of this week show we are making good progress."

Denison Police Chief Rod Bradley said Binning, 38, of Denison, is alleged to have sexually abused a 4- and 5- year-old girl, both of whom were being cared for in a home day care center operated by his wife. ...

During the time period listed on the May 13 charge, Binning had owned a computer business in Denison. He later sold the business and became the pastor of Glory Hill Worship Center, now located in Arion.

AMITE -- Judge Robert Morrison of the 21st Judicial District Court denied bail early Friday for Nicole Bernard, 36, who is charged with aggravated rape in connection with the Hosanna Church sex crime case that has been developing over the past several weeks.

Joyce Jackson, assistant warden of the Tangipahoa Parish Jail, said that Morrison had denied a bail request from Bernard about 8:30 a.m. Friday.

The hearing was not held in open court, and Morrison issued his ruling over the telephone.

Twenty-First Judicial District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said judges do not customarily comment on bond hearings.

AUGUSTA, Maine -- The state attorney general's office on Friday released more than 100 pages of documents relating to allegations of sexual abuse of minors involving 21 deceased Roman Catholic clergy.

The documents had been screened to eliminate names of alleged victims and witnesses. They included diocesan records, investigative reports and other material.

The documents were made public in response to an April ruling by the Maine supreme court. In that split decision, the court ruled 4-3 that the attorney general must release the files to Blethen Maine Newspapers, owner of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel newspapers.

Blethen Maine Newspapers filed a Maine Freedom of Access request with the attorney general in 2002 seeking records pertaining to the attorney general's investigation of alleged sexual abuse by priests who are now deceased.

At the beginning of this year, local victims of priestly pedophilia expected The Orange County Register to destroy the Diocese of Orange for good. After all, 2003 was a banner year for the daily, a year in which the Register consistently scooped its competitors in exposing the pederast-coddling sins of church officials. Some of its more shocking revelations included:

•Register opinion writer Steven Greenhut disclosing in his July 20 Sunday column the case of Father Cesar Salazar, whom diocesan officials refused to remove from St. Joseph’s in Santa Ana despite the discovery of child pornography on his computer. They finally did after the public uproar that followed the publication of Greenhut’s piece.

•Reporter Jim Hinch’s Sept. 14 story on how Mater Dei High School officials never reported to law-enforcement agencies allegations of student molestations at the hands of the Santa Ana parochial school’s teachers and sports coaches.

•A two-part, front-page Register exposé based on a police report in which Father Eleuterio Ramos admitted to molesting at least 25 boys during his tenure in the Orange diocese from 1976 to 1986.

But as the Orange diocese sex-abuse scandal nears its disgraceful end—Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown has agreed to pay $100 million to 87 victims of his child-raping employees, the largest clerical sex-abuse settlement in Catholic Church history—some sex-abuse victims are furious at the Register. When victims needed Orange County’s paper of record the most, they say, the Register failed them.

The revised statement says the diocese's minimum contribution to settlements with victims is $15.7 million, with additional money contributions possible as the diocese continues to pursue settlements with insurers.

A previous disclosure statement had proposed capping the settlement contribution at $20 million, but that ceiling limit was removed in the new document.

Creditors have until Tuesday to file objections to the new statements. A hearing in front of federal bankruptcy judge James M. Marlar is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

He cites the Catholic sex-abuse scandal. Plus, he says people can be spiritual without joining a particular religious organization. Then, there's his desire for tangible evidence that there's one correct path.

"Basically, I'm more of a practical person who needs proof," Watson said. "They say it's more of a leap of faith, and I couldn't make that leap."

The 26-year-old Fredericksburg resident and engineer is among a sizable number of young adults professing an interest in spirituality, but not necessarily in organized religion, according to a couple of recent surveys.

The studies by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute and Reboot, a Jewish networking group, focused on college-age young people and how they see life's mysteries with and without participating in a religious institution.

Clergy-Abuse Victims Group Urges D.A. to Investigate Orange Diocese
By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer

Armed with newly released church documents, advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse asked the Orange County district attorney Friday to open an investigation into whether Roman Catholic officials acted criminally by covering for molesting priests and failing to report their crimes to authorities.

"We ask you to protect kids by setting an example for those who would protect child molesters," wrote three officials of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in a letter to Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas.

More than 11,000 pages of documents were released over the past two weeks as part of a record $100-million settlement between the Diocese of Orange and 90 alleged victims of molestation.

The documents show that church officials moved known molesters from parish to parish and diocese to diocese, never told parishioners that a sexual predator was in their midst and never told authorities about the crimes.

Two former altar boys who say they were sexually abused by a San Jose priest in the 1970s may seek punitive damages against the Archdiocese of San Francisco, an Alameda County judge tentatively ruled Friday.

When made final by Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw, the order could put new pressure on the archdiocese to settle dozens of negligence claims still pending for the actions of local church leaders before Archbishop William Levada's 1995 arrival in San Francisco.

The judge's tentative ruling involves one of 18 lawsuits claiming negligent supervision of the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard, the former pastor of St. Martin of Tours parish in San Jose.

Last month, a San Francisco jury awarded four other plaintiffs nearly $6 million for sexual abuse inflicted by Pritchard, who died in 1988.

That judgment came on top of another $437,000 award in March stemming from sexual misconduct by the San Jose priest.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane said Friday it does not own 81 parish churches and nearly 100 other assets - and cannot use them to pay alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests.

The diocese filed documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court challenging the assertion by alleged victims that Bishop William Skylstad owns the 81 churches, 16 schools, one high school and 79 other Catholic assets in the sprawling region.

The diocese, which faces lawsuits filed by 58 alleged victims, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December, listing assets of $11.1 million and liabilities of $81.3 million - the vast majority being sexual abuse claims.

The diocese has asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams to rule that Skylstad only controls the roughly $11 million worth of assets that belong specifically to the diocese.

"We are trying to resolve this Chapter 11 in a way that compensates those harmed by the church in the past," said Shaun Cross, an attorney for the diocese.

Editor's Note: The Bangor Daily News will continue to review the circumstances of individual priests identified in Friday's release of information by the Maine Attorney General, but at this time will not publish the list of priests in its entirety. The newspaper believes it would be inappropriate to publish the names of individuals who have been the subject of unsubstantiated allegations that in most cases can never be proved.

BY JUDY HARRISON
OF THE NEWS STAFF

AUGUSTA - The Maine Attorney General's Office on Friday released investigative files containing complaints of sexual abuse against 21 dead priests who worked in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland at the time the alleged abuse occurred.

In a split decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court last month ruled 4-3 that the documents be released to the media and the public. The names and information that would identify the alleged victims, their family members and friends were blacked out.

The complaints ranged from a priest's attempt to fondle a boy at the age of 13 to multiple victims stating that priests had touched their genitals to some priests allegedly forcing children to touch their penises.

One victim reported that when she was 6 years old, a priest who visited her in the hospital after she had had an appendectomy moved her to an empty storage room and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

The diocese opposed the release of the information because most of the allegations were never substantiated, some of them were made anonymously and a majority of the priests had died years before the incidents were reported.

May 27, 2005

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho's Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Driscoll, who recently apologized for permitting priests to remain in a California ministry after they had victimized children, failed to remove a Boise deacon after he was told the FBI was investigating the clergyman for allegedly viewing child pornography.

Driscoll had known of the investigation nine months before the church notified members of St. Mary's parish in Boise, where Deacon Rapelyea Howell served, according to the Los Angeles Times and Idaho Statesman newspapers.

The 65-year-old leader of Idaho's 144,000 Catholics was told June 1 of last year that Howell was accused by authorities of viewing Internet child pornography between June and September 2002 when he worked for Casey Family Programs, a Seattle-based foster child counseling service that has an office in Boise.

The foundation monitors computer use by employees and was alerted to suspicious activity by software that tracks keyword searches and Web site visits. After putting Howell, 48, on administrative leave from the job he had held for 12 years, Casey officials turned Howell's hard drive over to the FBI and fired him on Oct. 11, 2002.

Three years after Monsignor Charles Kavanagh was removed from his high-profile ministry, taken down by an accusation of long-ago misconduct, more than 200 supporters came out last night to give him a hug, wish him a happy birthday and remind him that they feel he was hung out to dry.

Kavanagh was the Archdiocese of New York's vicar of development, raising millions of dollars for the church, when he was prohibited from acting as a priest three years ago this week. He was accused by a former seminarian of pursuing a romantic, sexually charged relationship with him two decades before.

Ever since, Kavanagh's supporters have been outraged that he was dismissed with no timetable for a possible appeal or a resolution to his case. In addition to losing his spot as chief fundraiser, he lost his pulpit at St. Raymond's Church in the Bronx.

"As is often said, justice delayed is justice denied," said John Dearie, the former state assemblyman and a close friend of Kavanagh who hosted last night's party. "This man gave 40 years of his life to reaching out, supporting people, so now we want to show our ongoing support for him."

PONCHATOULA -- The suspected core members of a group that allegedly abused children and animals within the walls of a now-defunct church have been arrested and the next major step will be to send the case to a state prosecutor, authorities say.

Nine people have been arrested in connection with alleged activities at the Hosanna Church, a once-bustling house of worship that dwindled to a handful of members -- some implicated in allegations of sexually abusing children and animals -- before it closed in 2003.

"Right now, it's still in the fact-finding mode," District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said. "It's a law enforcement issue, but when they're done, they package it and the case file is sent to us."

Perrilloux will have 60 days from the time of the arrests to present the case to a grand jury.

PONCHATOULA -- Investigators interviewed witnesses and went through volumes of evidence Thursday as they worked to piece together a Ponchatoula church's alleged occult rituals that included devil-worship and sex with children and animals.

A FBI evidence team wrapped up its search at the Hosanna Church on Southwest Railroad Avenue, the location where most of the alleged child abuse occurred, said Laura Covington, spokeswoman for the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office.

Investigators have not said what they found as they dug pits on the church grounds, other than construction debris and an old carpet.

Covington said that as of midweek, no additional arrest warrants or search warrants were pending in the investigation. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards has said that there are at least 100 people detectives plan to interview and has not ruled out more arrests.

(AGI) - Palermo, Italy, May 24 - "Today's operation once again highlighted what we have been reporting for some time: the social danger of the paedo-pornography phenomenon", stated, Giovanni Arena, chairman of Telefono Arcobaleno, the association which had pressed the charges which ended in the blitz in Syracuse, investigating 186 people in all of Italy, including three priests. Arena highlights: "It is not a coincidence that there are representatives of the Church, educators and public administrators among the investigated. Individuals who, also for professional reasons, paradoxically can be in contact with children every day." According to Arena the broadness of the phenomenon should make us think on the "necessity of regulations that safeguard minors even more. A concrete need, and I think that what happened a few days ago in Verona confirms our thought: the trial against a man on whose computer investigators found 82,634 files with paedo-pornographic content downloaded from an internet site and 33 videotapes of the same kind. The suspect struck a deal, ending his legal issue with a payment of 3,000 euro and returning home without a criminal record because the current law does not expect a mention of the sentence, even though Telefono Arcobaleno (who had tracked down and reported the man) sued for damages in a criminal court."

(AGI) - Syracuse, May 24 - They were in contact with children and were supposed to educate them, take care of them, and instead they were part of a paedophile organisation that was broken today in an operation around Italy. Twenty-seven people who worked with minors were arrested, including three priests from Palermo, Verbania, and Bolzano, and an educator in Palermo. 186 searches were down around Italy, as part of an investigation of the Syracuse prosecutor's office. The investigation was based on a website that could be seen by using a password, without an index page. The site showed sexual abuse of children between four and eight years of age. The investigations were done by the Syracuse investigations unit, coordinated by prosecutors Giuseppe Toscano, Antonio Nicastro and Mariella Cavallo. (AGI) .

Pope John Paul II knew. Many shocking stories of priestly sex abuse and their subsequent cover-ups are emerging from the once-secret Diocese of Orange priest personnel files. On May 17, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered their release as part of the record-breaking $100 million settlement reached between the Orange diocese and victims of its pedophilic employees.

But from the more than 10,000 pages of documents, by far the most damning account is found in merely four pages: Pope John Paul II knew.

The disturbing revelation is included in the papers of Father Andrew Christian Andersen, who pleaded guilty in 1986 to 26 counts of molesting four boys while working at St. Bonaventure in Huntington Beach. One item is an August 10, 1987, note by Monsignor Oscar Rizzato, then the Secretariat of State for the Vatican, to the Orange diocese. The Secretariat of State, as the Vatican’s website describes it, is the arm of the Holy See’s bureaucracy “which works most closely with the Supreme Pontiff in the exercise of his universal mission.”

When I imagine working on the Register’s editorial page, I think of alchemists—the Renaissance “scientists” who believed it was possible (as they put it) to “conglutinate” objects, to turn one thing into another. I think specifically of the story of Leonard Turneisser, who in 1677 is reported to have “turned an Iron Nail heated in the fire, and immersed in Oyl, into Gold; done at Rome the 20th day of November after Dinner.” ...

Two days later, and the Register was feeling pretty good about itself. On May 19, it reported that Mater Dei High School choir director Thomas Hodgman and a Placentia priest named John E. Ruhl confessed to sexual misconduct to Orange Diocese officials—more than a decade ago.

Was this revelation the result of dogged investigation? Mmmmm, no.

What the Register did was attend a press conference, hold out its hand, and receive documents related to the Diocese of Orange sex scandal, documents released May 17 following an LA superior court judge’s order.

Understandably, and in the kind of hushed tones one normally expects from professional wrestlers, the Register congratulated itself, saying it was “publishing these papers to give a fuller picture of how the church handled those accused of molestation.”

“There is no justification, no precedent this court is aware of to make such a ruling,” McKay said in denying efforts to bar the media.

Buzanowski faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child. He is accused of fondling a 10-year-old boy in 1988 while Buzanowski served as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay

Buzanowski remains in custody in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. As part of his plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, Buzanowski will have to submit to a psychological evaluation to determine whether he understood right from wrong when he allegedly touched the boy and whether he was able to conform to the rules of society.

Buzanowski faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child. He is accused of fondling a 10-year-old boy in 1988 while Buzanowski served as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay.

Buzanowski remains in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

As part of his plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, Buzanowski will have to submit to a psychological evaluation to determine whether he understood right from wrong when he allegedly touched the boy and whether he was able to conform to the rules of society.

Seward resident Arlen Meyer, excommunicated from St. John Lutheran Church in March, has been reinstated to full membership by a vote of the congregation.

The Rev. Mark Cutler read from a prepared statement Thursday that said, in part, that "the congregation in meeting assembled has removed the excommunication placed on Arlen and has restored him to Christian fellowship in this congregation."

Meyer, retired from teaching after a long career at St. John Lutheran School, was the subject of a 2002 Nebraska State Patrol investigation into acts of alleged sexual misconduct against students.

He has never been criminally charged, but Congregational Chairman Ray Huebschman said in March that a count of written ballots at a special church meeting resulted in "a clear majority" favoring excommunication.

The statement quoted by Cutler Thursday, which also cited "evidence of repentance," will be handed out this weekend to the 1,100 people who usually attend four services at Seward's largest church.

For the first time in 14 years, the Archdiocese of Chicago is laying off workers at its downtown headquarters as it fights to close an ongoing, multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

Church officials said Thursday that 40 positions will be cut by July at the pastoral center on East Superior, which is home to about 600 employees. Some of the jobs will be erased through early retirements and attrition, but the remainder will be layoffs, officials said.

It's all part of the ongoing struggle facing the local Catholic church, which has had to ship millions of dollars to struggling parishes to keep them afloat, depleting the budget of its pastoral center.

The financial woes have been exacerbated by legal claims paid out to victims of sexual abuse by priests, including the $18.2 million paid to settle claims in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2004. But church officials said the budget woes surfaced before the claims were paid, and the abuse settlements are not the predominant reason for the struggles.

IT WAS a year ago this week that a fleet of FedEx trucks delivered the devastating news to thousands of faithful Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston -- their churches were slated to be closed. Over the past year the destructive track of downsizing has created immeasurable pain in the lives of countless Catholics and their communities. Few have gone unscathed, including Archbishop Sean O'Malley himself. We have every reason to believe this history will repeat itself if the archdiocese does not change its course.

The former flagship of the Catholic Church in America, the Boston Archdiocese, continues to sink. Already facing a slow but gradual long-term decline, the archdiocese needed to embark on a course of hope and healing after being stricken with the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The settlements in December 2003 provided that opportunity. Regrettably, a flawed top-down reconfiguration process has put us into a steeper downward spiral and refractured an already broken trust.

There is cause for alarm that goes beyond declining Mass attendance, a priest shortage, budget and program cuts, and other objective measures. At a time when creative and vibrant solutions are needed, the archdiocese is stuck in the same old ways -- diminishing hope and alienating those it needs most for its survival and growth, the faithful parishioners. The mission of the church is the ultimate casualty.

DETROIT (AP) -- The Vatican has defrocked a priest who served in several parishes in metropolitan Detroit and has barred eight others from the ministry, the Archdiocese of Detroit says.

The nine priests have been on leave since allegations of sexual abuse surfaced, said Auxiliary Bishop Walter Hurley.

"The final decision ... basically confirms the original decisions made by the cardinal," said Hurley, who is Cardinal Adam Maida's delegate on issues of clergy misconduct.

The archdiocese is awaiting Vatican review of 14 other cases, including four priests who requested church trials, the Detroit Free Press said Friday.

The Vatican defrocked, or "laicized," Robert Quane, 60, who served at nine parishes in the Detroit area, including St. Francis of Assisi in New Haven, St. Raymond in Detroit and St. Ronald in Macomb County's Clinton Township.

Father George Crespin, the longtime priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church who took early retirement in February after being accused of sexual abuse, has been cleared of all charges by a formal review authorized by Oakland Diocese Bishop Allen Vigneron.

The Catholic Voice, the official publication of the Diocese, reported that parishioners at St. Joseph gave Crespin a standing ovation when he returned to work at the Berkeley church this past Saturday. He expressed his relief and joy at returning to active ministry. Since the allegation was made, he has been unable to celebrate Mass or perform other priestly duties.

"We're very grateful that this process is completed," said Father Jayson Landeza, who has been acting administrator at the parish during Crespin's absence. "We at St. Joseph had confidence that the process would exonerate him."

Crespin was unavailable for comment, but Landeza said the retired pastor planned to stay in residence at St. Joseph. Since he was removed from ministry, the parish has rallied around him and held a town hall meeting with diocesan representatives Feb. 15, where they expressed their grief at his sudden departure.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican said this week there was no investigation under way of allegations that the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order sexually abused seminarians more than 30 years ago, and the Holy See had no plans to bring a church trial against the priest.

The Legionaries of Christ said last week that the Vatican had notified them about the status of the case involving the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degallado. In the late 1990s, nine former seminarians alleged Maciel had abused them when they were young boys or teenagers in Roman Catholic seminaries in Spain and Italy. The alleged abuse was in the 1940s-1960s.

Maciel, 85, has denied the allegations and said his accusers plotted to defame him.

''There is no investigation under way, and it is not foreseen that there will be one in the future,'' a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said.

Earlier this year, news reports surfaced that the Vatican had reopened the sexual abuse case against Maciel. But Vatican officials at the time said the reports resulted from a misunderstanding.

A Catholic rights group is pressing the Italian police to press criminal charges after the authorities in Rome last week busted a massive child abuse ring run by Catholic priests.

Catholics Against Chid Abuse (CACA) wants the police to arrest Pope Benedict XVI and charge with aiding and abetting sexual abuse of children and obstructing the course of justice by covering up crimes against children by other priests.

In May 2001 the Cardinal sent a secret letter, obtain by the respected British newspaper Observer, to every Catholic bishop asserting the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood.

CACA asserts that this constitutes a blatant obstruction of justice and the Pope should stand trial for the alleged crime.

May 26, 2005

The pastor of St. Joseph the Worker parish has been cleared of decades- old sexual-abuse allegations, an Oakland Diocese official said Wednesday.

In a letter to parishioners Sunday, Bishop Allen Vigneron wrote that officials "found that it is insufficient to support the allegation made against" the Rev. George Crespin, who is returning as pastor emeritus.

Crespin was put on leave and retired in February after being accused by "a young adult" of sexual abuse in the 1980s.

Father George Crespin, the longtime priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church who took early retirement in February after being accused of sexual abuse, has been cleared of all charges by a formal review authorized by Oakland Diocese Bishop Allen Vigneron.

The Catholic Voice, the official publication of the diocese, reported that parishioners at St. Joseph gave Crespin a standing ovation when he returned to work last Saturday. He expressed his relief and joy at returning to active ministry. Since the allegation was made, he has been unable to celebrate Mass or perform other priestly duties.

"We're very grateful that this process is completed," said Father Jayson Landeza, who has been acting administrator at the parish during Crespin's absence. "We at St. Joseph had confidence that the process would exonerate him."

Crespin was unavailable for comment, but Landeza said the retired pastor planned to stay in residence at St. Joseph. Since he was removed from ministry, the parish has rallied around him and held a town hall meeting with diocesan representatives Feb. 15, where they expressed their grief at his sudden departure.

CORNER BROOK, Nfld. (CP) - Sexual abuse victims of a Newfoundland priest have accepted $13 million in compensation from the Roman Catholic diocese where he worked.

Individual compensation for the 36 people ranges from a low of $75,000 dollars to a high of $1 million. Greg Stack, a lawyer for most of the abuse victims, said they had the choice of either accepting the offer or letting the diocese of St. George's go into bankruptcy.

Bishop Douglas Crosby said he's grateful the victims have seen fit to vote in favour of the offer.

Diocese officials said they will need to sell some of their assets to pay for the compensation deal.

They have appealed to parishioners, and are accepting contributions from other dioceses.

Rev. Kevin Bennett admitted his guilt and was convicted in 1990 of sexually abusing 36 boys over a period of nearly 20 years while he worked in the diocese.

Tangipahoa Sheriff Daniel Edwards said Wednesday he believes members of the Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula used toys to lure children to have sex.

In total nine people have been arrested in connection with what police are calling a sex cult.

"It would not surprise me if there had been the use of puppets and things in order to make the children feel comfortable and what not to be able to perpetuate these types of crimes," Edwards said. "It would not surprise me."

According to a search warrant 36-year-old Nicole Bernard, who was arrested on a charge of aggravated rape, "openly stated (a 5-year-old) had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by members of her family and the cult since birth."

Witnesses told police that people dressed in black clothing stood inside pentagrams and performed blood rituals involving the sexual abuse of children and animals at a now-closed church.

A woman whose phone call to police started the investigation was arrested last week in suburban Columbus, Ohio, on a charge that she raped her daughter. Authorities left with Nicole Bernard from Columbus on Wednesday for Louisiana after she gave up her right to a hearing on whether she should be extradited.

Police searched a storage unit in Columbus after Bernard told them it contained evidence. Officers took mattresses, videos and nine garbage bags full of costumes from the storage facility, according to a search warrant.

A message seeking comment was left for Bernard's attorney in Columbus, Bob Bernard.

The Right Reverend Roderick Wright, the former Roman Catholic Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, who died on Tuesday aged 64, scandalised the Church in 1996 when he ran off with his housekeeper, Kathleen MacPhee, a divorced mother of three children whom he had met at Lourdes; it later emerged that he was also the father of a son by another parishioner.

In September 1996 Wright was reported to have disappeared. He was, in fact, moving secretly from Bishop's House, Oban, to a hired cottage at Kendal, in the Lake District, there to set up home with Mrs MacPhee while he prepared to release a statement announcing his resignation.

When the couple heard, on the radio, of his "disappearance", Wright telephoned the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Keith O'Brien. Wright fixed a meeting with the Archbishop of Glasgow, Cardinal Thomas Winning, to tender his resignation. He maintained later that not only had he come clean about his relationship with Mrs MacPhee, but confessed to Winning a previous relationship with another woman, Joanna Whibley, which had resulted in a son. Winning helped Wright to compose a letter of resignation to Pope John Paul II, and made public a statement by Wright tendering his resignation because of his liaison with Kathleen MacPhee. If Wright had confessed to his relationship with Joanna Whibley, Winning kept silent.

SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS (WWLP) - A group representing people who claim abuse by members of the catholic clergy delivered a letter to Springfield’s bishop on Tuesday. They say the public deserves to know where Bishop Dupre is and they also want to see him formally removed from the priesthood. Members of Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests showed up at the bishop's door on Tuesday to hand him that letter, and show him another they've addressed to the pope. They think it's wrong that Dupre, who's been indicted on charges of molesting 2 boys, is somewhere out in the world, potentially unsupervised, where they say he could abuse more victims.

PITTSBURGH - A judge has halted proceedings in nearly three dozen sex-abuse lawsuits filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh until the state Supreme Court issues an opinion regarding Pennsylvania's statute of limitations.

Allegheny County Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. did not rule on the diocese's request to dismiss the 35 sex-abuse cases, but last week did grant the diocese's request to halt the proceedings.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs objected to the stay because it allows the diocese to not turn over records related to the cases.

(May 26, 2005) — A Catholic priest whom the Diocese of Rochester once restricted from contact with children pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to possession of child pornography.

The Rev. Michael Volino, 41, admitted that last year he had child pornography on a diocesan computer. In his guilty plea to a single felony count, Volino admitted only to possessing more than three pornographic images, but federal prosecutors contend that he had more than 600.

The difference could be crucial to Volino's sentence, because sentences can be increased if there are more than 600 images.

In 2002, diocese officials asked Volino to attend a Maryland-based psychiatric center for priests because of concerns about his "maturity and development," Bishop Matthew Clark said in an earlier interview. Counselors recommended that the diocese ensure that Volino was not alone with children, a restriction the diocese maintained it followed. (Clark said the diocese did err by allowing Volino to teach at St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece; the center recommended that he be prohibited from work in schools.)

ASHTABULA, Ohio - In this tight-knit northeast Ohio city, the death of Carolyn Clark on Mother's Day weekend was story enough: Police said her estranged husband beat her head with the stock of a rifle in front of the youngest five of their 13 children.

But then talk intensified as news spread about legal papers Carolyn Clark had filed in a custody dispute she won a few days before her death, accusing leaders of the couple's church of sexual and physical abuse against members, including children. Clark said she was trying to get her young children away from the church, which she accused of brainwashing her husband and older children.

Now prosecutors are investigating whether the Apostolic Church Body of Jesus Christ of the Newborn Assembly had any role in her death. Social services officials are looking into the abuse allegations.

"This murder happened, and it might have kicked over a rock and there's some sunlight shining down now," Ashtabula County Prosecutor Thomas L. Sartini said.

Thursday, May 26, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
All 389,000 Roman Catholic parishioners in Western Oregon soon may find themselves defendants in their archdiocese's legal fight to keep parish property from being used to pay sexual-abuse settlements.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris said in a Wednesday hearing that she was leaning toward converting the property litigation into a rare class action at the end of July.

"I've never had a class action before in my 21 years as a bankruptcy judge," Perris said, as she and several bankruptcy lawyers thumbed through their copies of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, puzzling over the class-action rules.

Rather than name every parishioner individually, a class action would enable the committee representing sex-abuse plaintiffs to sue the volunteer parishioners on behalf of all parishioners. The so-called adversary proceeding, which is similar to a lawsuit, would be meant strictly to answer the question of who owns the property in the archdiocese's 124 parishes and three high schools: the archdiocese or the parishes.

Who owns $600 million in real estate, investments and cash has been a central issue since the Archdiocese of Portland became the nation's first to file for bankruptcy in the wake of lawsuits alleging clergy sexual abuse.

PONCHATOULA, La. - Witnesses told police that people dressed in black clothing stood inside pentagrams and performed blood rituals involving the sexual abuse of children and animals at a now-closed church.

A woman whose phone call to police started the investigation was arrested last week in suburban Columbus, Ohio, on a charge that she raped her daughter. Authorities left with Nicole Bernard from Columbus on Wednesday for Louisiana after she gave up her right to a hearing on whether she should be extradited.

Police searched a storage unit in Columbus after Bernard told them it contained evidence. Officers took mattresses, videos and nine garbage bags full of costumes from the storage facility, according to a search warrant.

A message seeking comment was left for Bernard's attorney in Columbus, Bob Bernard.

Eight other people, including the church's pastor and an ex-sheriff's deputy, have been arrested in connection with the Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula, a once-bustling house of worship that was reduced to a handful of members in recent years before closing in 2003. A dozen or more additional people could be involved, authorities said.

Demanding an apology from Msgr. John Alesandro for failing to help sexual abuse victims who complained to him about predatory priests, about 40 people protested outside St. Dominic's Church in Oyster Bay Wednesday night where the former Diocese of Rockville Centre top official is now pastor.

"As Christians, we are supposed to forgive and we would do that if he showed any kind of remorse," Pat Cuomo of Northport said. "An apology is in order to my brother and the other victims and he needs to own up to his responsibility in the scandal."

The group stayed outside the rectory for about 45-50 minutes, some holding posters reading, "Monsignor, it's time to confess," and "Monsignor Thou Shalt Not Lie."

Andrew Cuomo, who lives in Milwaukee and flew in Wednesday for the demonstration, said the late Rev. Robert D. Huneke began abusing him in 1972 when he was a 14-year-old who had been recommended to the priest for counseling. Huneke had been named in lawsuits accusing him and other priests with sexual abuse.

Sometimes, saying "I'm sorry" isn't nearly enough. The release last week of papers revealing that church leaders in Orange County concealed, denied and enabled sexual molestation by priests for decades neither brings the matter to psychological closure nor speeds healing. Instead, it should spur some church leaders to step down, while forcing others — most notably, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony — to finally disclose the church's complicity in the scandal.

Bishop Michael P. Driscoll, formerly a diocesan official in Orange County and now the bishop of Boise, Idaho, posted a preemptive apology on his website before the release of the papers. As The Times reported Wednesday, disagreement about whether he is redeemed or should resign has given Catholics one more thing to be divided about. In either case, church officials will have to do much more to help heal the community — and they should start by releasing all documents related to the abuse cases.

The 10,000 pages of documents released by the diocese confirmed critics' worst suspicions. Bishop of Orange Tod D. Brown has been more forthright about the scandal than many of his colleagues (although it should be pointed out that these papers were released to comply with a court settlement). Mahony, in contrast, has waged an unseemly struggle to keep key personnel records from the grand jury and plaintiffs' lawyers.

At the beginning of weekly meetings for the Winchester chapter of the Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), Bob Morris asks those in attendance at St. Eulalia's Church in Winchester how many were from different parishes and communities. Several weeks ago he stopped this practice, mainly because so many people were raising their hands.

"Even though we're here at St. Eulalia's, we have always drawn people outside the parish," said Morris.

The Winchester VOTF affiliate recently celebrated its three-year anniversary. Like their weekly meetings, the event had a good turnout of people reminiscing about what the organization has meant to them. The VOTF is centered around three goals: To support survivors of clergy abuse, support priests of integrity and shape structural change in the church.

"The mission statement is to provide a prayerful voice attentive to the spirit through which the faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the church," said Morris.

The VOTF originated in January 2002, when Boston-based newspapers began running articles on a daily basis about the burgeoning Catholic church sexual abuse scandal. Morris said many of the cases involved priests and bishops who allowed abuse to happen, finding quick-fixes, like shuffling the offenders to different parishes or dioceses. While it was not known as the VOTF at the time, the first meeting occurred at St. John the Evangelist in Wellesley Hills.

CORNER BROOK — The victims of Father Kevin Bennett have accepted a $13-million compensation offer from the Roman Catholic diocese of St. George's.

Bennett was convicted in 1990 of molesting 36 boys while he served in parishes in the diocese.

Kevin Bennett was convicted in 1990 of sexually abusing 36 boys in parishes where he had served.

The victims fought their case for compensation to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The package involves 39 men, including two additional victims of Bennett and a man who had been molested by one other priest.

Greg Stack, the lawyer who represents most of the sexual-abuse victims, says his clients really had only two choices: accept the offer or let the diocese go into bankruptcy.

"None of the victims [is] jumping up and down with joy but certainly everyone hopes that this is going to be the end of it, and hopes the debts will be retired in an orderly fashion," Stack says.

"It was accepted, because the alternative is probably a little bit worse in terms of time. The time limits of payments would be delayed a year or two … The complexity and the administrative costs would be a lot, [and] that would consume a lot more of the funds."

May 25, 2005

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has written to Minister for Finance Brian Cowen seeking to break the deadlock over the establishment of a planned fast-track investigation into how the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin managed child abuse claims against priests.

The Department of Justice has reached agreement on the inquiry with groups representing victims and submitted proposals to the Department of Finance last February. However, there has been no progress since then.

The new inquiry, which would come under the Government's new powers to establish commissions of investigations into matters of public interest, would examine how the diocese handled cases of alleged child abuse against priests. According to informed sources it would look, for example, into whether the Archdiocese moved priests around against whom allegations had been made.

ONE of the victims of paedophile priest Fr Ivan Payne has hit out at the Government for delays in setting up the fast-track investigation into how the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin managed child abuse claims against priests.

Andrew Madden said it was no longer acceptable that victims were waiting almost three years after Justice Minister Michael McDowell promised an inquiry.

Mr Madden, who in 1994 became the first clerical child sex abuse victim to go public, said despite the fact he and others had numerous meetings with the Department of Justice, there had been no progress.

The new inquiry, which is set to come under the Government's new powers to establish commissions of investigations into matters of public interest, is set to examine in detail how allegations of clerical child sexual abuse were handled.

While it has emerged that Mr McDowell has written to Finance Minister Brian Cowen on the setting up of the probe, Mr Madden said victims were fed up waiting.

(May 25, 2005) — A Catholic priest today pleaded guilty to the possession of child pornography found on his computer at the Diocese of Rochester.

The Rev. Michael Volino, 41, admitted that in October he possessed child pornography on the computer.

The child pornography was discovered by a technology specialist at the Diocese of Rochester who was repairing Volino's computer, according to the FBI. Officials at the diocese then contacted authorities.

Volino had been a priest at St. John the Evangelist Church of Greece, 2400 W. Ridge Road, since 2002.

Volino will remain confined to an area home until he is sentenced in September. The maximum sentence for the crime is 10 years but federal prosecutors say that federal sentencing guidelines establish a sentence between 46 and 57 months. Volino's lawyer, John Parrinello, plans to argue that the guidelines instead suggest a sentence between 15 and 21 months.

Father Michael Volino pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing child pornography and now faces possible jail time. Volino, who was a priest at St. John The Evangelist Church in Greece, appeared in federal court with his attorney John Parrinello, his parents and friends.

In court he answered numerous questions from the judge before he signed his plea agreement. Most of the time it was "yes, your honor." Or "yes, sir."

The plea closes another chapter in the church's ongoing problem with priests who have fallen from grace.

The diocese information technology officer discovered the child pornography images on Volino’s computer. The diocese then turned over the computer to the FBI. The plea agreement says there were more than 600 pictures of boys under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit activity. “Father Volino accepted responsibility for his conduct. He has continually expressed remorse for engaging in the conduct that he did. And he is fully resolved that nothing like this will ever happen again in his lifetime,” said Parrinello.

The maximum sentence is ten years in prison and/or a $250,000.00 fine.

In a potentially significant twist to the case involving the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, NCR has learned that the office that recently released a statement saying there is no case against Fr. Marcial Maciel regarding sex abuse accusations is not the office with responsibility for making that judgment.

On May 20, the Legionaries of Christ issued a news release stating that the "Holy See" had informed them that "at this time there is no canonical process underway regarding our Founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel, LC, nor will one be initiated." Subsequently, the Catholic News Service and other press agencies quoted the Vatican Press Office as confirming the statement.

That news startled some observers, since an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican agency charged in 2001 by Pope John Paul II with responsibility for the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, traveled in early April to New York and Mexico City to collect testimony from alleged victims. Those efforts by Msgr. Charles Scicluna, the Promoter of Justice within the congregation, suggested that a preliminary investigation was underway.

Most observers assumed that the new communication to the Legionaries must have come from that congregation, the office once headed by Pope Benedict XVI.

In fact, however, the communication came from the Secretariat of State, the department that handles papal diplomacy and acts as a coordinator for the work of other Vatican agencies. It came in the form of a fax, which was unsigned but bore a seal from the Secretariat of State indicating official status. Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State, is a longtime supporter of Maciel and the Legionaries of Christ.

CORNER BROOK, NL, May 25 /CNW/ - Ernst & Young Inc., in its capacity as
Trustee in the Proposal of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of
St. George's, today announced that the creditors of the Corporation voted
overwhelmingly in favour of the Corporation's Proposal.
The Most Rev. Douglas Crosby, OMI, Bishop of St. George's Diocese,
expressed his gratitude that the victims of sexual abuse along with other
creditors of the Corporation, the civil arm of the diocese, voted to accept
the Corporation's proposal.
"Today's vote confirms our hope that the victims would see our proposal
as fair and just," said Bishop Crosby. "I've acknowledged from the outset that
while no amount of money can compensate these young men for the harm that was
done to them and their families, it was our moral and legal obligation to
offer them everything we could possibly manage."
In 1990 Kevin Bennett, then a priest of the Diocese of St. George's, was
sentenced for the sexual abuse of 36 young men over a period of almost 20
years and served four years in prison. Since that time a number of victims
launched civil suits at a total claimed value in excess of $50 million. In
March 2004 the Supreme Court of Canada found the Corporation directly and
vicariously liable.

In many ways Boston's archbishop is also a kind of archdiocesan CEO - and in this case the CEO of an economically troubled organization.

So Archbishop Sean O'Malley has spent the past year tending to that increasingly challenging role - evaluating parishes, closing churches, disposing of real estate, reshuffling priests, attempting to make scarce resources go further. In doing so, however, the spiritual leader of Boston's Roman Catholic community has neglected an important part of his pastoral role - tending to some in that community who were the most grievously injured by priests who turned out to be sexual predators.

BOSTON - Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley has not met with a clergy abuse victim for six months, angering those who believe repairing the damage done by the abuse scandal in the archdiocese should remain his top priority.

As of October, O'Malley had met with 110 victims and family members, according to his aides. Since then, meetings with two dozen others were postponed as he dealt with the reconfiguration of the archdiocese and the closing of 80 parishes.

"Seventeen months? How timely is that?" said alleged abuse victim Christine Hickey, 48, of Cambridge, of her wait to see O'Malley. "What's an hour of your week when this is supposed to be the most important thing you were sent here to do?"

O'Malley declined to be interviewed, but the Rev. John Connolly, who oversees the archdiocese's efforts to address the abuse crisis, called the length of Hickey's wait "very unusual."

Not every survivor of clergy abuse is willing to criticize the Boston archdiocese, particularly if they rely on it to pay for the years of therapy and medication ``survival'' often entails.

Criticism, after all, can come at a cost.

No case made it more clear than that of Paul Edwards, who accused the archdiocese's top canon lawyer of molesting him as a child, only to become a cautionary tale, many survivors say, of how fierce the backlash can be.

``They'll tell you anything you want to hear,'' Edwards, 37, said bitterly. ``But in the end, nobody pays for what they've done. Nobody.''

After he accused Msgr. Michael Foster of molesting him in the 1980s at Newton's Sacred Heart Church, he said, Foster's supporters launched a campaign to discredit him, portraying him as a pathological liar.

His vilification was so complete, Edwards said, that he lost the child he and his wife had applied to adopt, was ostracized by his neighbors and clients and received threatening phone calls Eventually, he dropped his civil suit and he and his wife left the state.

Earlier this year, in a four-hour meeting with the Rev. John Connolly and Barbara Thorp, who heads the Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach, Edwards asked that O'Malley clear his name. Two weeks later, Thorp contacted him and said she hoped to have an answer for him by week's end.

(KSDK) -- It's not often that you find Scott Rosenblum home for dinner. It's a rare moment when the defense rests. "Since the day I met him, he's always had a lot of ambition and drive," says his wife Georgeanne.

Rosenblum is usually in his Clayton law office. In fact, he's there seven days a week, sometimes 16 hours a day and he's handled some of the areas most high profile cases. ...

But Rosenblum has his detractors. His client, Bryan Kuchar
a priest, eventually was sentenced to 3 years in jail for sex abuse, but his first trial ended in a hung jury.

David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP didn't like the way Rosenblum attacked Kuchar's accuser on the witness stand and it still makes him angry. "Not because he prevailed. You know, that happens in the court system. But because of the tactics that he used," says Clohessy.

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- A 49-year-old man sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee and a now-retired priest Tuesday, saying that 34 years ago the priest tried to molest him in a Georgia motel room.

KINGSPORT – A former bus driver for Sullivan County schools was charged Monday with sexually abusing a boy on his bus route in the Bloomingdale area.

Stuart D. Dickenson, 60, of 300 West Ravine St. was charged with sexual battery, rape and statutory rape after a year-long investigation, according to a news release from the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office. Lt. Bobby Russell said the allegations were made in February 2004. The boy, who was 14 at the time, said that sexual contact occurred on the bus and at a rental home Dickenson was looking at, he said.

Russell said Dickenson may also have spent time with the boy while working a church bus route for Tabernacle Baptist Church in Bloomingdale.

ASHTABULA, Ohio -- In this tight-knit northeast Ohio city, the death of Carolyn Clark on Mother's Day weekend was story enough: Police said her estranged husband beat her head with the stock of a rifle in front of the youngest five of their 13 children.

But then talk intensified as news spread about legal papers Carolyn Clark had filed in a custody dispute she won a few days before her death, accusing leaders of the couple's church of sexual and physical abuse against members, including children. Clark said she was trying to get her young children away from the church, which she accused of brainwashing her husband and older children.

Now prosecutors are investigating whether the Apostolic Church Body of Jesus Christ of the Newborn Assembly had any role in her death. Social service officials are looking into the abuse allegations.

"This murder happened, and it might have kicked over a rock and there's some sunlight shining down now," Ashtabula County Prosecutor Thomas L. Sartini said.

No charges have been filed against leaders of the country church.

Its bishop, Charles Keyes, has repeatedly declined to comment.

Clark's five adult children told The Star Beacon the church had nothing to do with her death. They said their mother had been abusive, beating them, burning them with a clothes iron and forcing them to eat vomit as punishment.

AMITE -- Police have arrested the last person named so far in warrants accusing them of being part of a cult which had sex with children and animals, but a dozen or more additional people could be involved, authorities say.

FBI agents and East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies arrested Patricia "Trish" Pierson, 54, when she arrived at the Baton Rouge Municipal Airport on a flight from Tulsa, Okla., said Laura Covington, a spokeswoman for the Tangipahoa Parish sheriff.

Pierson was arrested as a fugitive and then transferred to Tangipahoa Parish, where she was booked on charges of sexual battery and principal to aggravated rape, Covington said.

Another woman, Nicole Bernard, wanted on a charge of aggravated rape, waived extradition Tuesday in Ohio's Franklin County Common Pleas Court and will likely return to Louisiana within 10 days, authorities said.

Her ex-husband, Austin Aaron Bernard, 36, was arrested May 17 on a charge accusing him of making a girl under the age of 13 perform a sex act.

Seven of the eight people arrested, including Pierson's husband, Allen R. Pierson, remain in jail without bail because they are accused of capital offenses, Covington said.

PONCHATOULA, La., May 24 - Two decades ago, Hosanna Church was one of the fastest growing congregations in the cypress flats of Tangipahoa Parish on Lake Pontchartrain's northwest rim, and its pastor, Louis Lamonica, was a beloved figure.

"That man could really preach," said Bill McCormack, a resident of Ponchatoula who attended the church as a boy. "He was an awesome local icon."

But by two years ago, when the church finally closed after a ferocious falling-out between the pastor's son and successor, Louis Lamonica Jr., and his family, the congregation that once neared 1,000 had dwindled to 10 or 15 troubled souls from a handful of families.

And now, many of them, including Louis Lamonica Jr. and a deputy sheriff who once lived on the church grounds, are behind bars, accused by the police of a litany of ungodly offenses, including sexual abuse of perhaps two dozen children and the mutilations of cats for satanic rituals.

A former West Side pastor was sentenced to 10 years of probation Tuesday for having sex with an underage choirgirl more than a dozen years ago.

Duane Hammons, 47, was found guilty Friday of four charges of sexual assault of a child and two charges of indecency with a child by contact.

The jury found him not guilty of two counts of indecency with a child by contact. He faced 20 years in prison.

Hammons, a former pastor of the Church of God in Christ, was convicted of having sex with Nailah Coggins while she was a freshman and sophomore at Holmes High School. Coggins, now 27, testified the sexual abuse began in 1992 when she was 15.

The San Antonio Express-News generally does not reveal the identity of sex crime victims; however, Coggins said she didn't mind being identified by name.

"It wasn't exactly what I wanted," Coggins said of the sentence, after leaving the courtroom.

PONCHATOULA -- During the final days of Hosanna Church, out-of-towners looking for a place to worship on a Sunday were greeted with closed doors and requests from the church's dwindling congregation to leave the property.

"Strangers were not allowed there. You had to be invited," said the Rev. Gary Wayne Yates, pastor of the Hammond Revival Center and a former member of Hosanna Church in the 1980s when it was known as First Assembly of God.

Nobody knows exactly what secrets Hosanna Church Pastor Louis David Lamonica was hiding behind those closed doors except for members of the church's small congregation just before it closed in 2003.

But speculation among residents of Ponchatoula is rampant following the recent arrests of nine former members of that church and the ensuing newspaper and broadcast accounts of devil worshiping, sexual abuse of children and animals, and occult rituals involving pentagrams and the blood of animals.

PONCHATOULA -- Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputies worked to bring two alleged cult members to jail in Amite on Tuesday while the Federal Bureau of Investigation dug up the grounds at the Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula looking for more evidence.
The extradition of the two suspects and the excavation are part of a seven-week investigation into the alleged occult practices of the church that includes sex with children and animals. Nine people have been arrested so far.

Deputies were scheduled to fly to Ohio today to bring the woman who first alerted the Sheriff's Office about the abuse at Hosanna to Amite in order to book her into the parish jail on a count of aggravated rape, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said.

Nicole Bernard of Columbus, Ohio, waived extradition Tuesday in Ohio's Franklin County Common Pleas Court. She was arrested Friday.

Bernard told deputies she moved to Ohio a several months ago out of fear for her safety.

FBI agents and East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies arrested Patricia "Trish" Pierson, 54, when she arrived at Metro Airport in Baton Rouge aboard a flight from Tulsa, Okla., said Laura Covington, a spokeswoman for the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office.

An Allegheny County judge has halted proceedings in 35 sex abuse lawsuits filed against the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh while the state Supreme Court considers an appeal of a ruling in similar cases in Philadelphia.

Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. granted a request by the diocese to stay the cases but did not rule on its request to dismiss the cases. Lawyers for the 35 plaintiffs had objected to the stay because it keeps the diocese from turning over documents related to the allegations.

In March, the state Superior Court ruled that alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia waited too long to file their lawsuits. Attorneys for the Philadelphia plaintiffs in April appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Documents released Tuesday reveal the failure of the Diocese of Orange's decades-old strategy of trying to cure pedophile priests with therapy, detailing how the clerics continued to abuse young boys while in treatment but were cleared by psychologists to return to the ministry.

The files also show that Roman Catholic officials ignored a recommendation to limit one cleric to an adults-only ministry and allowed him to set and enforce his own rules against being alone with children.

The hundreds of pages of psychotherapist reports, billings and other internal memos were the latest documents released as part of a court-approved $100-million settlement reached in December between the Orange diocese and 90 alleged victims.

Last week, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman ordered the production of more than 10,000 pages from the confidential personnel files of 15 accused priests and teachers.

Those papers document the transfer of predator priests from parish to parish and diocese to diocese, as well as efforts to protect them from prosecution while failing to warn parishioners of the danger.

ROME- Italian police raided the homes and offices of 186 suspected members of a child pornography ring including three Roman Catholic priests and a local mayor who downloaded pictures from an exclusive Web site, officials said Tuesday.

The group downloaded photos and video of sexual abuse against children, whose ages ranged from 4 to 8, from a Web site that could only be entered with a password, said a police officer in the Sicilian town of Syracuse, where the investigation was based.

The officer, who cited office policy that he could not be identified, said the site had operated for nine days before authorities closed it down in July after receiving a tip from Telefono Arcobaleno, a local association that scans the Internet to combat child abuse.

Police searched the homes and offices of 159 suspects in 16 of Italy's 20 regions Tuesday, the official said. The remaining 27 suspects had their homes and offices searched in recent months.

During the searches, police seized child pornography videos from computers owned by the three priests and were studying some homemade videos confiscated during the raids in an attempt to identify where the children were filmed and who filmed them, authorities said.

ALBANY - To break the three-year stalemate with the Senate, Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, is pushing for a conference committee to sort out differences in legislation that would add members of the clergy to the list of professions that are mandated to report child abuse.

McEneny said the only difference between his bill and the one expected to pass the Senate is that his extends a confidentiality privilege to certain professions like doctors, counselors and nurses.
"Their profession will tell them how to handle the situation," he said. "Their profession does not allow them to ignore the issue, but it does not demand a knee-jerk reaction to pick up the phone and call the police."
The problem with the bill sponsored by Sen. Stephen Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, is if a young person knows the police will automatically get called, he or she may not seek out the necessary help they need, McEneny said.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
A national support group for clergy abuse victims yesterday asked the bishop of the Springfield Diocese to join its effort to ensure that his predecessor, Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, is removed, saying he is a risk to children.

At a press conference in front of the diocese's headquarters, Peter C. Pollard, coordinator of the Western Massachusetts affiliate of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, asked for the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell's support as the group sends a letter to Pope Benedict XVI.

The letter from the national organization calls for Dupre to be held accountable for allegations of sexual child abuse, be encouraged to seek further treatment, be defrocked and have his whereabouts disclosed.

A local Voice of the Faithful representative joined the press conference and read a statement of support.

Dupre, who resigned 15 months ago when allegations were brought forward by two men who said he abused them as children, entered St. Luke Institute in Maryland upon his resignation. His whereabouts since then have remained a mystery, and neither the diocese nor the pope's U.S. representative have commented on a probe the Vatican initiated upon his resignation as bishop.

Pollard tried to deliver a letter to McDonnell at the chancery, but Vice Chancellor Sister Carol Cifatte answered the door and informed Pollard that McDonnell wasn't available. Cifatte took the letter.

BOISE, Idaho — Southern Californians who were sexually abused by priests left in ministry by Bishop Michael P. Driscoll want him to resign or be fired.

But in Idaho, where Driscoll now serves as bishop of Boise, Roman Catholic opinion appears far more divided after the release last week of internal church documents that detailed his past handling of clergy sexual abuse allegations in Orange County.

Many Idaho Catholics have remained supportive of Driscoll, who has apologized for what he described as his "horribly misplaced" priorities in California. Others say they have trouble reconciling the engaging "Bishop Mike," who speaks passionately of his concern for children and the poor, with the portrait that has emerged from the files.

According to the documents, Driscoll moved priests accused of molesting minors from parish to parish in Orange County. He helped others relocate to other dioceses and countries to avoid prosecution, ignored or delayed acting on parents' complaints, and accepted a convicted molester from Wisconsin into a local parish.

The files were released last week as part of a $100-million settlement involving 90 alleged victims of sexual abuse and the Diocese of Orange. Driscoll served as chancellor and later as auxiliary bishop in Orange County from 1976 to 1999, when he became head of the statewide diocese in Idaho.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005
By Ed Anderson
Capital bureau
BATON ROUGE -- A bill designed to make it harder for sex offenders to get out of jail on bail was approved by a House committee Tuesday.

Without objection, the Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice approved House Bill 451 by Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, sending it to the House floor for debate.

Geymann's bill requires a bond hearing in front of a judge when a convicted sex offender has been arrested on a subsequent sex charge involving a victim younger than 13.

Lake Charles City Councilman Rob Corquodale, a former prosecutor, said a judge now sets the bond for a sex offender when an arrest warrant is issued without taking any testimony or finding out the violator's background.

Under Geymann's bill, the district attorney would present evidence to the judge on the alleged attacker's background before bond is set.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange paid thousands of dollars for medical treatment for priests accused of abuse and for their traumatized accusers and accusers' relatives, but did little else to deal with clergy abuse, according to hundreds of pages of priest personnel files released late Tuesday.

The nearly 1,000 pages of confidential documents from the files of nine accused Orange County priests mark the second mass release of such papers in a week.

Tuesday's documents include bills for medical and psychological treatment for priests, alleged victims and their relatives that were submitted to the diocese for payment.

The files also include evaluations of accused clergy by psychologists, letters between bishops and, in one case, a petition for laicization to Pope John Paul II written by the accused priest himself.

The first batch of some 10,000 pages of files was released on May 17 as part of a record-breaking, $100 million settlement between the diocese and 87 plaintiffs. The second batch was released Tuesday night after the diocese handed them over to plaintiffs' attorneys under court order.

When filmmaker Mary Healey-Conlon requested an interview with Cardinal Francis George for a documentary on the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church, the cardinal welcomed her to his residence in hopes that answering her questions would shed light on the scandal enveloping American bishops.

Now officials with the archdiocese of Chicago say they regret their participation, contending that the film, titled "Holy Water-gate," is riddled with inaccuracies. They also fault Healey-Conlon for failing to disclose conflicts of interest when she approached them in 2002.

"The cardinal will not dignify this so-called documentary with a comment," said Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the archdiocese. "This thing is an infomercial for plaintiffs' attorneys ... pure propaganda."

The documentary debuted last week on Showtime as a prelude to "Our Fathers," a made-for-television movie about the scandal that came to light in Boston in 2002. Both the movie and documentary will air again Wednesday night.

The 56-minute film, boiled down from 350 hours of footage, features interviews with victims' advocates, including lawyers, priests and parishioners.

"I worked hard in the film not to draw too many conclusions for the audience," Healey-Conlon said. "It's very important that people grapple with it on their own. I still grapple with this on my own."

In the film, George says the crisis presents an opportunity for people in the church to explore their faith more deeply.

By CHRIS KNAP, ANDREW GALVIN AND RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
The Orange County Register

Psychotherapists and clinics that treated sexually abusive Catholic priests in the 1980s and 1990s routinely declared that priests were ready to return to service, long-secret documents released late Tuesday by the Diocese of Orange show.

In some cases, the priests went on to sexually abuse again, according to lawsuits settled by the church.

"After a period of reluctance and resistance, Father (Eleuterio) Ramos was able and willing to work through his emotional difficulties of a sexual nature. During the last year, he was capable of controlling his impulses completely," Dr. Klaus D. Hoppe of the Hacker Clinic in Los Angeles wrote to Bishop William Johnson in 1982. Hoppe could not be reached late Tuesday.

Ramos was returned to ministry by the diocese. According to lawsuits settled by the church earlier this year, he would again molest boys in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Ramos died in 2004.

In all, the Diocese of Orange has settled with 15 alleged Ramos victims for more than $16.6 million.

The documents released Tuesday are part of a record-setting $100 million settlement reached earlier this year between the Diocese of Orange and 90 Catholic men and women who alleged they were sexually abused as children by Orange County priests, nuns, brothers or laypeople. As part of the settlement, the diocese agreed to release certain documents it had already showed to plaintiffs' attorneys during mediation. Two weeks ago, the church filed a brief attempting to withdraw some of the documents, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman refused.

LOS ANGELES – An attorney who mistakenly released sealed personnel files of priests accused of sexual abuse dropped an effort Tuesday to force The Orange County Register to return the documents.

The Register informally agreed to return the original documents and keep copies to use in its ongoing reporting of the case. In return, the victims' lawyer, Patrick DeBlase, told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman that he would withdraw his request for sanctions against the newspaper.

DeBlase asked the judge last week to bar newspapers from printing any of the information, which detailed how church officials covered up sexual abuse by priests. Lichtman refused to grant that request. The Register published its report Thursday.

Lichtman said during a 20-minute hearing Tuesday that the First Amendment trumps other rights and bars him from any restraints on the press. The only time a judge can place restraints on the press is for national-security concerns during time of war, he said.

Donald Wood, a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, blasted the Register for publishing the information, saying the paper acted with "self-righteous arrogance."

LOS ANGELES - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange paid thousands of dollars to treat allegedly abusive priests and their accusers but permitted some acknowledged molesters to continue in the ministry, newly released files show.

Nine priests were ordered into therapy after being accused of sexual abuse. Nearly 1,000 pages of confidential documents from their files were released Tuesday.

The files included medical bills, psychological evaluations of accused clergy, letters between bishops and, in one case, a petition for laicization to Pope John Paul II written by the accused priest himself.

It was the second mass release of such papers in a week. The first batch of some 10,000 pages of files was released on May 17 as part of a record-breaking, $100 million settlement between the diocese and 87 plaintiffs who had sued over alleged abuse.

The files showed that priests accused of sexual misconduct typically received counseling until a 2002 "zero tolerance" policy was adopted.

Siegfried Widera, for example, was barred from priestly duties and sent to a Catholic treatment center in New Mexico in 1985. According to a psychological evaluation, he acknowledged molesting at least 10 boys in Orange County.

However, the director of the center wrote in a 1986 progress report that he believed Widera "will continue to be a good minister within the church."

May 24, 2005

The Vatican announcement that no action will be taken against the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order, has stunned those who accuse him of having sexually abused young seminarians in his charge years ago.

The decision announced by the Vatican Press Office short-circuits normal church procedures to reach a resolution in the case against the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado.

Neither the men making the accusations nor their canon lawyer in Rome had been told of the decision as of Monday, said one of the accusers, Juan Vaca, of Holbrooke, N.Y., a former Legionary priest who once headed the order in the United States.

Vaca, now an adjunct professor of psychology and sociology at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., said he felt betrayed. "I am more than upset," he said. "I've lost all faith in the church."

Maciel, 85, the Mexican founder and recently retired head of the Legionaries of Christ, recently was the subject of an intense preliminary investigation by a high-level Vatican agency known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

The case against Maciel gained wider attention when Ratzinger became pope. As a cardinal, Ratzinger had been in charge of handling sexual abuse allegations, and observers were looking to this case as a test of how seriously the Vatican will pursue allegations such as those that have roiled the church in America.

Catholic League president William Donohue wrote the following news release in response to columnist Robert Scheer’s latest piece:

“In today’s article, Los Angeles Times op-ed page writer Robert Scheer manages to mangle the facts and distort the truth about both the Catholic Church and homosexuals. He does so because he is full of hate.

“He dubs the Catholic Church ‘one of the most sexually repressed institutions in human history’ that is responsible for a ‘horrific drumbeat of child molestation revelations’ led by a new pope who is ‘a longtime leader of vicious church attacks on ‘evil’ gays’; Pope Benedict XVI is also accused of scapegoating the media. Scheer is wrong on all counts.

“It is not the Catholic Church’s emphasis on sexual reticence that gave us the scandal, it was morally delinquent priests who jettisoned the Church’s teachings on sexuality. The ‘drumbeat of child molestation revelations’ is pure myth: 81 percent of the victims were male—the majority being postpubescent—and 100 percent of the victimizers were male, thus making this a homosexual scandal (not a pedophilia scandal). But don’t look for Scheer to mention this: He will protect gays at all costs and he will slander the Catholic Church at any expense.

PENSACOLA, Fla. - A 49-year-old man sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee and a now-retired priest Tuesday, saying that 34 years ago, when he was 15, the priest tried to molest him in a Georgia motel room.

The Circuit Court suit accuses Monsignor Richard Bowles of disrobing and demanding oral sex from Paul Tugwell, then 15, during a 1971 trip to Callaway Gardens at Pine Mountain, Ga. Tugwell said he refused Bowles request.

The suit also alleges that diocese officials failed to report the matter to police when Tugwell's parents complained and transferred Bowles from one parish to another "thereby perpetuating his harm to others."

"I don't think there's a day that goes by that I haven't thought about it," Tugwell said at a news conference. "For a long time I pretty much pushed it away to not have to deal with it, but when the Boston cases came out I felt I needed to do something about it."

Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after the disclosure that he had moved predatory priests to new church assignments without notifying parishioners. His archdiocese settled more than 550 lawsuits for $85 million. The Boston complaints led to similar allegations and thousands of lawsuits across the nation.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- FBI agents and local police searched a storage unit located along Morse Road Tuesday in connection with an alleged sex scandal linked to a New Orleans-area church, NBC 4's Nancy Burton reported.

The storage unit was searched after one of the suspects, Nicole Bernard, told investigators that it held evidence of a satanic pedophile ring.

Bernard made her first court appearance Tuesday in Franklin County after being arrested Thursday by Reynoldsburg police at a home in Blacklick and charged with aggravated rape. Bernard's husband, a church pastor and a sheriff's deputy were arrested in Louisiana. All are accused of sexually abusing children -- including some related to them, Burton reported. A search warrant indicated that animals also were involved, Burton reported.

Nine people in all have been arrested, according to WDSU-TV in New Orleans.

Police said the satanic pedophile ring went on for four years. The sex scandal allegedly occurred at the Hosanna Church, located 60 miles north of New Orleans.

A pastor in Louisiana owns the house Bernard was living in in Blacklick.

John Joseph Bussmann, a former priest of the Mary Queen of Peace congregations in Rogers and Fletcher, was convicted last week of sexual misconduct and theft charges involving a female employee and parishioner when he served as a priest there.

According to Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, after a one-week trial and one day of deliberations, a jury convicted Bussmann, 51, of one count of theft over $500 (a felony), one count of theft by swindle over $500 (a felony), one count of fifth degree criminal sexual conduct (a gross misdemeanor) and one count of indecent exposure (a misdemeanor). He will be sentenced July 11 in front of Hennepin County District Judge Diana Eagon. Bussmann also remains charged with two counts of third degree criminal sexual conduct involving two other female parishioners. Those cases will be tried in July.

Bussmann was a priest at St. Martin’s Catholic Church in Rogers and St. Walburga’s Catholic Church in Fletcher from 2000–03 (These churches merged in 2002 to form the Mary Queen of Peace congregation). The Archdiocese removed Bussmann as a priest in March 2003.

The victim in this case, said Klobuchar, was a church employee and parishioner. The victim testified that, around April 2001, Bussmann summoned her to the rectory stating that there was water in the basement. She went over to the building and entered the basement. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she discovered there was no water leaking. Bussmann then walked into the basement naked and stood at the bottom of the stairs so she could not leave. On another occasion, Bussmann purchased a gift for the victim. When she went to his office to thank him, he gave her a hug, rubbing her buttocks and touching her breasts over her clothing. She pushed herself away, packed her belongings and left her employment the same day.

MATTHEW ARTZ
Father George Crespin returned to the pulpit Sunday, two days after Oakland Diocese officials cleared him on charges that he sexually molested a boy more than 30 years ago.

In a letter handed out to parishioners Sunday, Bishop of Oakland Allen Vigneron wrote that a diocese review board found the available evidence “insufficient to support the allegation made against Father Crespin.”

Diocese officials were not available Monday to answer whether the accuser, whose identity the diocese has withheld, would have the opportunity to appeal the ruling.

According to parishioners, Father Crespin, 69, told those at mass on Sunday that he was overwhelmed by their support and prayers.

“It was just jubilation,” said Sharon Girard, who attended the mass. “We all believed in him. I never doubted him for a moment.”

In February, the diocese placed Crespin on administrative leave while it investigated an accusation from a man who said Crespin sexually abused him in 1984, while Crespin was a priest at Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Two teenagers charged with the December beating of a priest in Springfield have pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and face up to three years in prison.

As part of Monday's agreement with the state, Jamie E. Gibson, 17, and Ryan Boyle, 15, will face no more than three years when Sangamon County Circuit Judge Leo Zappa sentences them July 19. A second aggravated battery count against each teenager was dismissed in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Each admitted hitting and kicking the Rev. Eugene Costa, 54, in the head and body after he offered them $50 for sex acts, police said Gibson told them.

Boyle is charged as an adult in the case, although if he is sentenced to the Department of Corrections, he will be held in a juvenile facility until he is 17.

Aggravated battery is punishable by up to five years in prison, but probation is an option.

Assistant state's attorney Karen Tharp said a Springfield Park District police officer came across Costa's car in Douglas Park about 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 21 after the park was closed. Costa was found near the vehicle, severely beaten.

Gibson told police he and Boyle had cut through the park, stopped to smoke a cigarette and rest. An older man, later identified as Costa, started talking to them, offered the youths $50 for sex acts, and then rubbed up against Gibson and touched his leg.

When the man did the same thing again, Gibson punched him, knocking him to the ground. Gibson and Boyle then started kicking Costa in the head.

The attorney who represented two priests in a civil lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct with a minor issued a stinging rebuke of Bishop Joseph Martino on Monday

Attorney Sal Cognetti, who represented the Revs. Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey, was responding to a May 6 press release from the Diocese of Scranton that announced a settlement in the suit filed by a man identified as John Doe.

In the diocese press release, Martino was quoted as saying that Doe’s allegations “were very damaging. In view of the serious claims made by the young person and in light of the statements by the witnesses who supported his claim, it was determined that the just decision was to reach a settlement that will assist the victim and his family as they attempt to heal.”

Cognetti countered that there wasn’t “even one corroborative testimony in support of” Doe’s claims.

“It shocks me deeply as an attorney to see the prejudicial and antagonistic nature of the statements leveled against my clients by their own bishop, apparently giving credence to the allegations without any finding of fact whatsoever on his part (or a court’s part).”

Cognetti also claimed Martino “does not know the case, except from those who have, quite apparently, erroneously advised him on the matter,” and that the bishop “does not even know personally the priests he has so unjustly defamed. ...”

ROME – Italian police are investigating 186 people including three priests after uncovering an Internet pornography site for paedophiles that showed young children being tortured, an official said on Tuesday.

Police said the anonymous web site had been protected by a password and was only accessible for nine days last year in an apparent effort to avoid detection.

But a tip-off to a child-abuse telephone helpline allowed computer experts to track down the users. Besides the Roman Catholic priests, police also believe a mayor, a teacher and a doctor downloaded illegal videos.

'The children on the films were aged between 4 and 8 at most. Some were abused, others were even tortured,' said Domenico Di Somma, coordinator for the police computer investigation taskforce.

Police have confiscated computers across Italy, but have not yet pressed charges as they continue with their investigation.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Vatican accepted the early retirement Tuesday of Bishop Raymond J. Boland, whose ailing health pushed him to leave his post as leader of the region's 140,000 Roman Catholics.

Boland, 73, headed the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph for 12 years, but last year asked Pope John Paul II to allow him to step down. He is a colon cancer survivor who has a fatigue-inducing condition called hemochromatosis. ...

Boland's tenure was not without incident.

He was named in numerous lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct by his priests, though he was never accused of abuse himself. Years before the church's abuse crisis erupted, Boland was involved in forming a training program, "Protecting God's Children," to help create safe environments for children and to teach adults warning signs of abuse.

(CBS) Thirteen-year-old Danny Croteau was brutally murdered in 1972 and the only suspect in the case was his priest.

Father Richard Lavigne continued to work in the diocese of Springfield, Mass., for the next two decades, until two men accused him of sexually molesting them when they were boys.

Since then, 43 other men have accused Lavigne. The molestation charges against Lavigne led police to refocus the investigation into Danny's murder. Correspondent Dan Rather reports on the case on 60 Minutes Wednesday, May 25, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

After Danny's murder, Lavigne, who had identified the body to police and participated in the funeral mass, became a suspect. Local police had circumstantial evidence against Lavigne at the time, but with no witnesses and no firm physical evidence, the district attorney did not prosecute.

Lavigne declined an interview with 60 Minutes Wednesday, but his lawyers maintain that Lavigne was not involved in Croteau's murder and point to crime-scene evidence that seems to support their claim.

Tom Martin disagrees. Martin is one of the 43 men who came forward about sexual abuse and he believes that Lavigne had a motive for killing Danny: to hide the dark secret of abuse that the boy was threatening to tell.

May. 23 (CWNews.com) - Despite a flurry of published reports, the Vatican has not released any public statement about an investigation of Father Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

Last week an Italian magazine published a story including unusually detailed allegations about an inquiry into sex-abuse charges against the Mexican cleric who founded the Legionaries in 1941. In response, spokesmen for the religious movement reported that their founder had been exonerated, and no further investigation was planned. But to date the Vatican has released no public statement on this remarkable exchange.

Jay Dunlap, an America spokesman for the Legionaries of Christ, issued a statement on May 20 saying: "The Holy See has recently informed the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ that at this time there is no canonical process underway regarding our Founder, Father Marcial Maciel, LC, nor will one be initiated."

But critics of the Legionaries quickly shot back with a report that the Vatican press office had not confirmed that there is no investigation underway. The critics quoted Father Ciro Benedeittini, the deputy director of the Vatican press office, as saying that his office "had not received any communiqué about if there exists, had existed, or will exist said investigation."

Under ordinary circumstances, no public statement would be issued about an ongoing canonical investigation. Thus the fact that the press office has not received any statement for public distribution is inconclusive.

By the same token, since Vatican investigations are conducted under rules of confidentiality, it was extraordinary that L'Espresso magazine carried what appeared to be a detailed report of a probe being conducted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith into charges lodged against Father Maciel by former members of the Legionaries. L'Espresso reported that Msgr. Charles Scicluna, the promoter of justice for the Congregation, had traveled to Mexico and the US in April to interview Father Maciel's accusers at length, apparently compiling a dossier for a canonical case against the Legionaries' founder.

A Catholic priest from Poland who served nearly five years in churches in Key Largo, Miami and Sunrise sued the Miami Archdiocese on Friday, claiming he was wrongly fired for complaining about financial improprieties and homosexual activity among fellow priests.

According to the lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the Rev. Andrew Dowgiert, who was ordained in Poland in 1988 and served in South Florida between 1999 and 2004, is suing on several counts, including breach of employment contract, slander and whistle-blower retaliation. He is seeking reinstatement.

Mary Ross Agosta, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami, on Monday denied that Dowgiert was fired. She said he was a visiting priest who was never formally employed by the archdiocese.

''Father Dowgiert has never belonged to the Archdiocese of Miami and served here temporarily with the permission of his Archbishop and Archbishop John Favalora,'' the archdiocese said in an e-mailed statement. ``When it became necessary to end Father Dowgiert's service here, the norms of canon law were followed.''

Dowgiert's suit said the immediate cause of his firing from All Saints Catholic Church in Sunrise was that he resisted an archdiocese attempt to send him away for psychological and alcohol treatment. Dowgiert, whose lawyers said he would not comment Monday, denied any problem with alcohol, the suit said.

ACTING Church head, Bishop Chrysostomos of Paphos, yesterday declined to comment on a transcript of a conversation in which he appeared to be talking about the sexual exploits of a bishop and a number of monks.

The transcript, published by Politis, had the outspoken cleric casually naming this or that priest as a “pervert” and giving the impression that this was common knowledge among ecclesiastics both in Cyprus and in Greece. The other participant in the conversation was said to be Archbishop Chrysostomos himself.

One of the names that came up was that of Limassol bishop Athanassios, who was reportedly friends with other monks of similar sexual inclination at a monastery in Greece. One cleric in particular, described as the “Old Man”, was said to be in the company of a group of young boys, probably apprentices.

In one instance, it was said that Archbishop Chrysostomos had conceded to his Paphos namesake that he was none too happy with appointing Athanassios, but also hinted that he would find ways to remove him if things got out of hand in the future.

Smut notwithstanding, the above discussions were in fact about Church politics, with the Archbishop and Chrysostomos deploring the lack of capable or charismatic leaders.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005
By GARY McELROY
Staff Reporter
In a curt, 27-word order issued late Monday, a Mobile judge dismissed -- "with prejudice" -- a civil suit alleging that a Catholic priest made sexual advances toward a woman in November 2001.

In her suit, filed in June 2004, Hughes alleged that when Zoghby was at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mobile he approached her from behind and physically grabbed and groped her buttocks "in an intimate and sexual manner."

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Two Springfield teenagers have pleaded guilty to beating and kicking a Roman Catholic priest in a city park in December.

Seventeen-year-old Jaime Gibson and 15-year-old Ryan Boyle entered their pleas to aggravated battery during separate court appearances in Sangamon County yesterday. In exchange, prosecutors have agreed to recommend no more than three years in prison when they're sentenced on July 19th.

The teens admitted stomping on and beating Monsignor Eugene Costa to the point that they feared he would die.

Costa -- who serve as pastor of parishes in the central Illinois communities of Sherman and Athens -- survived. But he resigned from the Springfield Diocese in January.

Victims of sexual abuse by clergy have agreed to settlements in as many as 30 claims that have been brought forward in the Catholic Diocese of Tucson's bankruptcy case, attorneys said during a court hearing Thursday.

Under the agreements negotiated by lawyers in the case, about 30 people who have filed abuse claims and are represented through a tort claimants committee have agreed to be placed in one of five tiers determining eventual monetary payouts.

The diocese has proposed tiers paying from $100,000 to $600,000 per claim, depending on a number of factors, but those figures could change.

Susan Boswell, the diocese's chief bankruptcy lawyer, said talks have essentially brought agreement, "certainly in principle," resolving at least some objections to the diocese's disclosure statement and an amended plan of reorganization.

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The Vatican needs to engage in "acts and words of compassion" to clergy sex abuse victims, said the former head of the U.S. bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection.

"The victims and their families are deserving of overdue apologies from the highest levels of the church," wrote Kathleen McChesney in the May 30 issue of America, a New York-based national Catholic weekly magazine of news and commentary run by the U.S. Jesuits.

The sex abuse crisis also calls the church to "serious thought" about optional celibacy for Latin-rite priests, she said, noting that sex abuse accusations have been made against clergy in many countries.

McChesney said that the election of a new pope is a good opportunity for the church to assess what still needs to be done in preventing child sex abuse.

"The crisis is not over," she said, mentioning the more than 1,000 new allegations of clergy sex abuse of minors made in 2004.

Hines said the continuance was needed because a witness' illness led to the delay in the sexual battery case, that began last week.

The defendant, Michael F. Palmer, 41, is a Baptist minister from Leland. He is accused of molesting two stepdaughters. The girls, now ages 13 and 15, were 10 and 12 when the alleged molestation began. According to testimony, the acts continued for about 18 months before law enforcement was notified.

One of the most sexually repressed institutions in human history has been caught with its pants down yet again but still insists on wagging its disapproving finger at the rest of us.

Last week, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange released more than 10,000 pages of letters, handwritten notes and other documents from the personnel files of 15 priests and teachers as part of its $100-million settlement of another in a numbing series of class-action sexual abuse lawsuits against the Catholic Church.

Despite the horrific drumbeat of child molestation revelations, however, sensible Catholics hoping for a more transparent and less sexually repressed church shouldn't hold their breath. The new pope is not only a longtime leader of vicious church attacks on "evil" gays, he also has shamefully blamed the molestation scandal on the media.

"In the church, priests also are sinners. But I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offenses among priests is not higher than in other categories, and perhaps it is even lower," said Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI — in 2002 when he was the head man of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

There is nothing holy about shooting the messenger.

The leader of the world's largest religious denomination apparently doesn't understand the essential truth of the molestation scandal: It was the church's breathtakingly systematic cover-up over many decades that so horrified followers and outsiders alike.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican said Monday there was no investigation under way of allegations that the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order sexually abused seminarians more than 30 years ago, and the Holy See had no plans to bring a church trial against the priest.

The Orange, Conn.-based Legionaries of Christ said Friday that the Vatican notified them a day earlier about the status of the case involving the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degallado. In the late 1990s, nine former seminarians alleged Maciel had abused them when they were young boys or teenagers in Roman Catholic seminaries in Spain and Italy. The alleged abuse occurred in the 1940s-1960s.

Maciel, 85, has denied the allegations and said his accusers plotted to defame him.

"There is no investigation under way and it is not foreseen that there will be one in the future," a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said Monday.

Two of Maciel's alleged victims said Monday they had not been informed by the Vatican that the case was resolved. In Mexico, one accuser said closing the case would be "very damaging" to the Vatican's prestige, and he insisted he and others could prove the abuse.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub
SPRINGFIELD - One of Bishop Thomas L. Dupre's two alleged sexual abuse victims is supporting a call for the Vatican to defrock Dupre, to announce the results of its investigation of Dupre and to reveal the bishop's whereabouts.

Tuan Tran, a Vietnamese refugee who said Dupre began abusing him as a pre-teen, expressed support for the plan by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests to hold a press conference today in Springfield calling for the Vatican to act on 15-month- old allegations against Dupre, who served in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield until his resignation in February 2004.

The 11 a.m. press conference in front of the Springfield Diocese's Chancellery is being held on the eve of CBS's 60 Minutes Wednesday's planned broadcast of a story about the 33-year-old unsolved murder of Springfield altar boy Daniel Croteau, defrocked priest Richard R. Lavigne - the only publicly identified suspect - and Dupre.

David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said his organization's main concern is that children be protected from someone accused of sexual molestation.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.— A man who claims he was sexually abused by Bishop Thomas L. Dupre in the 1970s said he supports calls to defrock the former Springfield bishop, but never wanted to see Dupre go to prison.

The man, Tuan Tran, 42, made his identity public for the first time in an interview with The Republican newspaper in Springfield. Tran told the paper in Tuesday's editions that he endorsed a call by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests for the Vatican to defrock the bishop.

"I wish the church dealt with this more honestly," Tran said. "They seemed to have ignored the whole thing."

Still, Tran told the newspaper that he had mixed feelings about Dupre, with whom he maintained a decades-long friendship after the alleged abuse ended.

Tran said he had cooperated with the criminal investigation of Dupre. But he also said he wasn't disappointed when Hampden District Attorney William Bennett decided in September against pursuing charges because the statute of limitations had expired. Bennett's decision came hours after a grand jury indicted Dupre on two counts of child rape.

"I didn't want to see him go to jail," Tran told the newspaper.

The second alleged victim, who was introduced to Dupre by Tran, declined to comment, citing a pending lawsuit filed by the two men against Dupre and the Springfield Diocese is pending.

May 23, 2005

Wayne Hughes, the Takapuna Assembly of God pastor at the centre of sexual abuse claims, has voluntarily surrendered his credentials as a minister and withdrawn from all ministry in the church.

In a statement released on Friday, Assemblies of God general superintendent Ken Harrison said: "The executive has concluded that to further pursue the matter is inadvisable as, amongst other things, the only sanction available in terms of the constitution and by-laws, is suspension of, or removal of credentials."

The Executive Presbytery, which is the Assembly of God movement's governing body, has been conducting an investigation into the matter since November. Mr Harrison said the investigation "has been considerably hampered by issues of legal and court privilege".

The abuse of a teenager occurred 20 years ago, but the victim has not complained to police. Both Mr Hughes and the victim have acknowledged some form of abuse occurred.

After a series of articles in the Herald, Mr Hughes opted for early retirement last month, citing personal reasons and concerns about how the publicity might affect the church.

COLUMBUS - Before he speaks, Mike Chakeres takes a deep breath and gently presses his hands together, as if in prayer.

He sits face-to-face with an aide for Ohio Rep. Steve Driehaus, preparing to explain why the House of Representatives should approve a new child protection bill. Chakeres has made this pitch before, but he's not a lobbyist or a salesman.

He still feels uneasy telling strangers how this particular piece of legislation became his personal crusade.

So he starts at the beginning.

"I'm just a father," he says, leaning forward in his chair. "My children have been harmed."

For Chakeres, this has been a simple and terrible fact of life for more than two years, ever since his two sons told him a Cincinnati priest molested them in the late 1970s. Now, he's here at the statehouse, on a beautiful day in early May, asking lawmakers for help.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said Monday there was no investigation under way of allegations that the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order sexually abused seminarians more than 30 years ago, and the Holy See had no plans to bring a church trial against the priest.

The Legionaries of Christ said Friday that the Vatican notified them a day earlier about the status of the case involving the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degallado. In the late 1990s, nine former seminarians alleged Maciel had abused them when they were young boys or teenagers in Roman Catholic seminaries in Spain and Italy. The alleged abuse occurred in the 1940s-1960s.

Maciel, 85, has denied the allegations and said his accusers plotted to defame him.

"There is no investigation under way and it is not foreseen that there will be one in the future," a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said Monday.

Earlier this year, news reports surfaced that the Vatican had reopened the sexual abuse case against Maciel. But Vatican officials at the time said the reports resulted from a misunderstanding.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland once used to send thousands of priests and nuns to spread Christianity abroad.

Now the trend has been reversed for the Roman Catholic church on the Emerald Isle.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, trainee priests are now coming to Ireland from Eastern Europe to learn their trade. ...

Up to 60 percent of Irish Catholics still attend mass every week -- but just nine new priests are being ordained this year into a church that once dominated every facet of Irish life.

Ireland's Catholic Church, like others around the world, was shaken to its foundations by a string of scandals involving the sexual abuse of children by priests.

But now religious commentators point to other more pressing problems -- a top-heavy hierarchy battling to breathe new life into a church whose faithful are enjoying the secular delights of the Celtic Tiger -- Ireland's booming economy.

"People are thinking of having rather than being," said Doran, reflecting on the church's role in an increasingly secular society.

But just how badly have the child abuse scandals affected vocations?

"It is not as high profile as it was. But of course it is there in the background and always has the potential to hit the headlines when a case comes up," Doran said.

Ohio Senate Bill 17 took a bizarre, and arguably unconstitutional, turn before the Senate completed work on it earlier this spring. The bill, having to do with abuse of children, is now in the hands of the Ohio House. Lawmakers there should try to save it. We ask state Reps. Scott Oelslager, William J. Healy II and John Hagan to have a look.

Drafted with the cooperation of the Catholic Church, the bill would require all clergy to report any known or suspected abuse of a child. Nearly everyone knows the unfortunate recent history of the church. In certain parts of the country, church leaders concealed problems of abuse of children by priests. The bill would prohibit such concealment. It also would extend to 20 years the time period for filing a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a minor. Twenty years would give people up to age 38 the oppportunity to bring suit.

After the Catholics endorsed the legislation, the Ohio Seante amended it with a special twist. It added a provision by which, for a year or two, people would have the chance to file suit for incidents as old as 35 years ago.

This decision to temporarily permit more lawsuits is a particularly odd decision for the Ohio Senate to make. It was, after all, the body that rushed last year to severely limit citizens’ ability to file lawsuits against businesses, only to have its work frustrated by a more thoughtful Ohio House of Representatives.

The Rev. Byron Arledge doesn't need legislation to mandate doing the right thing.

``I would be hard-pressed to think of a reason why a clergy person would not report the suspected abuse of a child. It's not a political decision. It's a child-welfare issue and a matter of conscience,'' said Arledge, interim pastor at St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church in the village of Tuscarawas in Tuscarawas County.

Arledge, who is also a licensed counselor and executive director of Pastoral Counseling Service in Akron, said clerics have a duty to protect children who need help -- not because they want to comply with a law, but because they are required ``by a higher power'' to do what is right.

That higher power is not the Ohio legislature, which is considering a proposal that would require clerics and church leaders to report suspected child abuse, just as teachers, doctors, lawyers and other professionals are required to do.

The bill also would lengthen the statute of limitations for the filing of lawsuits involving child sexual abuse to 20 years, clarify that a 20-year criminal statute of limitations does not start until a victim is 18 years old, and establish a one-year window after the law's enactment in which victims could sue alleging childhood sexual abuse that occurred in the previous 35 years.

Poised to launch the third round of annual audits to determine whether Catholic dioceses and eparchies are complying with the church's child protection policies, the nation's bishops defend them as a credible.

Still, opinions differ among leaders of groups representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse nationwide. Some claim the audits are meaningless while another said the mere fact bishops are submitting to outside scrutiny is a milestone.

"The fact that the audits are being conducted and dioceses around the country are opening up to that process to having independent oversight is a very good thing," said Susan Archibald, president of The Linkup, a support group for survivors of clergy sexual abuse that has about 3,000 members.

But the executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests dismissed them as nothing more than a public relations ploy that could do more harm than good by fostering a false sense of security.

"It leads Catholics to a sense of complacency when complacency is really dangerous," said David Clohessy, executive director of the group, which represents more than 5,000 clergy sexual abuse survivors.

MEXICO CITY -- The Mexican founder of the Legion of Christ, an influential Roman Catholic order, will not face a church trial on allegations that he sexually abused young seminarians in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, according to the Legion and news reports citing a Vatican spokesman.

In December, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened a full-scale investigation into the allegations by eight former seminarians against the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the 85-year-old founder of the Legion of Christ. In April, a Catholic Church prosecutor, Charles J. Scicluna, traveled to the United States and Mexico to take testimony from dozens of former Legionaries, according to the co-accusers.

But on Friday, the Legion announced that it had been told by the Holy See that no charges would be brought against Maciel, adding that the priest ''unambiguously affirmed his innocence." A Vatican spokesman confirmed yesterday that the investigation had ended, and that there were no plans to reopen it, according to the Associated Press. Efforts by a Boston Globe reporter to obtain comment from the Vatican yesterday were unsuccessful.

''Father Maciel is exonerated, and the Holy See has found nothing upon which to begin any kind of canonical process," Jay Dunlap, the Legion's spokesman, said yesterday. He added that Maciel was ''just grateful for the victory of truth and to be able to get on with the business of his priesthood."

The news was met with skepticism by the co-accusers -- mostly Mexicans in their 60s and 70s -- whose meetings with Scicluna had raised their hopes that the case would go to trial before the Vatican's Tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Another update in a seemingly never-ending, but still interesting, situation:

The Society of St. John, a suppressed clerical association that, along with the Diocese of Scranton, was the target of a (recently-settled) sex abuse lawsuit, has claimed victim status.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Bond, president of the College of St. Justin Martyr (an institution formerly affiliated with the SSJ), the group "has posted on its web site a 'Press Release' and a 'Letter to Benefactors' (www.ssjohn.org), both of which provide evidence that madness is not the cause of evil, but rather that evil is the cause of madness.

"Indeed, the SSJ has now reached a stage that can only be called delusional.

"In their press release, the SSJ claims that the sale of their Shohola property 'gives evidence to the Society's claim that their project is financially viable.' Yes, you read that right. The SSJ is claiming their project is 'viable.'

May 22, 2005

PONCHATOULA, La. -- Authorities have gathered new evidence from the home of a former pastor accused of leading a church group in "cult-like" rituals involving the sexual abuse of children and animals.

Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's spokeswoman Laura Covington said authorities seized cars belonging to three of the eight arrested suspects in the case and also searched the home of former Hosanna Church pastor Louis Lamonica on Friday night.

Also Sunday, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Trish Pierson, bringing the number of suspects to nine.

Covington said Pierson is the wife of Allen R. Pierson, a 46-year-old man who lived in an apartment on the church complex and has been accused of raping a girl who was nine or 10. Covington would not say what charges Trish Pierson was wanted on. Covington said detectives believed Trish Pierson was somewhere in the southwestern region of the country on Saturday.

Authorities have said more arrests are possible, and the details of the case have become increasingly graphic.

Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said members of a Ponchatoula church carried out the practices for years as part of a devil-worshipping ritual involving cat blood.

By JILL PENGELLEY
23may05
ADELAIDE's new Anglican Archbishop will invoke diplomacy and prayer to deal with a dilemma of his appointment.

The Right Reverend Jeffrey Driver is an Essendon supporter in the AFL and family friend of captain James Hird.

"We're going to have to have dual citizenship at best," he said yesterday.

"I'm quite seriously going to have to say some very serious prayers about this."

The Bishop of Gippsland, east of Melbourne, will take up the position vacated by the Reverend Dr Ian George, who was a very public Power supporter.

The Power defeated Essendon by 19 points in their Saturday night clash at AAMI Stadium.

While he made light of his football allegiance, Bishop Driver was earnest in his commitment to healing within the Anglican Church in Adelaide.

He said the diocese had made progress in responding to the needs of sexual abuse victims in the church. "I'm absolutely committed to a process of healing that's appropriate, that's transparent and is full," he said.

"In a chillingly frank account, a former Roman Catholic priest who served in the Stockton Diocese recently described his decadeslong career as a pedophile, including his sexual tastes and how he groomed his young victims for abuse."
So began a story on Oliver O'Grady that ran on The Bee's front page 10 days ago.

The story went on to describe, in some detail, how O'Grady molested an estimated 25 children while serving parishes in our area.

The detail, as it turned out, was too much for some of our readers, including Linda Vermeulen of Ripon, who e-mailed us complaining not only about that story but about coverage of Michael Jackson's molestation trial as well.

"What is the purpose of such a graphic and disgusting description of (O'Grady's) molestation accounts?" Vermeulen wrote. "I was sickened as I read it, and couldn't help but wonder how this detail serves the readers of The Modesto Bee.

"The most dishonorable part of your piece was where he tells the reporter how he lures a child to come to him. I couldn't help but feel the sorrow and revulsion of the hundreds of child molestation victims who must have been reading the article in horror. Shame on you."

I'm sure many of our readers were shocked and even repulsed by O'Grady's own account — as well they should have been. And, it might have opened old wounds among other readers.

Our intent in publishing the detailed account was to help readers — especially parents — better understand how pedophiles operate, and thus how better to protect children. The vast majority of teachers, pastors, coaches and other youth workers are good and honorable people; at the same time, there are sick and twisted people among them. Parents and children alike need to be alert. And to be alert, they need to be informed.

TUCSON -- More than 80 properties owned by the Catholic Diocese of Tucson were auctioned off yesterday in hopes of raising $3.2 million toward an eventual settlement to pay clergy sex abuse claims.

But the sale of the 83 properties in eight Arizona counties, conducted with Bankruptcy Court approval, will not become final until June 23, and officials will not know for about 40 days exactly how much revenue the auction produced.

Three parcels were sold under sealed bids that had to be submitted by Thursday; their pre-set minimums were expected to bring in more than half of the hoped-for total. All three were considered prime candidates for development.

Intense bidding opened on the single most expensive parcel sold yesterday -- 10 acres in northeast Tucson -- reaching $890,000. The last two properties sold were quarter- and fifth-acre plots in Navajo County, for $1,500 apiece.

ALBANY -- The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese said Wednesday it would investigate allegations that the pastor of Holy Cross Church molested an altar boy 32 years ago.

Attorney John Aretakis filed a lawsuit this week against Bishop Howard Hubbard, the diocese, Holy Cross parish, and the priest, the Rev. Daniel J. Maher, on behalf of the alleged victim, Thomas G. Clements III, now 44, of Colonie.

Clements claimed he was sexually assaulted twice by Maher in 1973, when he was 12, at a camp on Saratoga Lake.

Maher denied the allegations, and the diocese said the priest poses no threat to the parish.

Clements' lawsuit, filed in Saratoga County Supreme Court, is seeking $2 million in damages and accuses the diocese of negligence for allowing Maher to remain in active ministry at a parish where there is an elementary school.

SUPPOSE YOU were asked to name one of the biggest criminal coverups in American history. Maybe you would point to Wall Street or to the White House or to another political institution.

But the Roman Catholic Church? This is just one of the questions to emerge from a new documentary about decades of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests as church leaders kept silent or actively kept evidence from police.

How did this widespread abuse happen? How did it go on for so long?

"Holy Water-gate: Abuse Cover-up in the Catholic Church," by filmmaker Mary Healey-Conlon, touches on those questions and more in one of the most searing examinations of how church leaders turned a deaf ear to what surely is American Catholicism's most serious crisis, not to mention the most extensive coverup of criminal behavior in the nation's history.

The numbers speak volumes about how horrible this story is - some 11,000 children raped or abused by more than 4,000 priests during a 40-year span. But those numbers are conservative estimates, approved by the church officials. The truth may be even worse.

PONCHATOULA, La. Authorities have gathered new evidence from the home of a former pastor accused of leading a church group in "cult-like" rituals involving the sexual abuse of children and animals.

Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's spokeswoman Laura Covington says authorities seized cars belonging to three of the eight arrested suspects in the case and also searched the home of former Hosanna Church pastor Louis Lamonica on Friday night.

Also today, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Trish Pierson, bringing to nine the number of suspects.

Covington says she is the wife of Allen R- Pierson, a 46-year-old man who lived in an apartment on the church complex and has been accused of raping a girl who was nine or ten. Covington would not say what charges Trish Pierson was wanted on. Covington said detectives believed Trish Pierson was somewhere in the southwestern region of the country on Saturday.

Authorities have said more arrests are possible, and the details of the case have become increasingly graphic.

PONCHATOULA -- Authorities gathered new evidence from the home of a former pastor accused of leading a church group in "cultlike" rituals involving the sexual abuse of children and animals.

Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's spokeswoman Laura Covington said Saturday that authorities seized cars belonging to three of the eight arrested suspects in the case and also searched the home of former Hosanna Church pastor Louis Lamonica on Friday night.

"They took a few computers," Covington said.

Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said that a warrant was issued Saturday for the arrest of a woman believed to be linked to the group accused of sexually abusing children and animals.

Edwards would not release her name, but said the warrant said she faces prosecution in counts of aggravated rape and sexual battery.

A witnesses' illness led to a delay in a sexual battery case being tried last week in Washington County Circuit Court.

Proceedings will resume Monday, Circuit Judge Richard Smith ordered.

The defendant, Michael F. Palmer, 41, is a Baptist minister from Leland. He is accused of molesting two stepdaughters. The girls, now ages 13 and 15, were 10 and 12 when the alleged molestation began. According to testimony, the acts continued for about 18 months before law enforcement was notified.

The trial began Wednesday.

Smith said Friday that the court was informed that a witness is ill.

"One of the witnesses is hospitalized at this time, and I'm continuing the case until Monday," he said. "On Monday, I will assess the situation, and hopefully the witness will be out of hospital and able to be here."

Prior to the continuance, the alleged victims and several other state witnesses told a Washington County Circuit Court Jury about incidents in which Palmer allegedly touched the girls in private areas. The younger girl told about Palmer getting on top of her several times and having intercourse.

Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley yesterday ordained eight men to the priesthood, a welcome addition for an archdiocese that is closing more than a quarter of its parishes partly because of a shortage of priests.

Although he did not refer directly to the closings or the clergy sexual abuse crisis that helped precipitate them, O'Malley acknowledged the difficult task that lay ahead of the new clergymen.

``Answering the call to ministry is never easy. Not everyone who is called is ready to respond,'' O'Malley said in his homily at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End.

``I invite you to rest your heads on the heart of Jesus. Set an example for believers in your words and in your actions. Have a special love for your brother priests. They are your new family.''

Thomas S. Rafferty, one of the newly ordained priests, said he had thought about becoming a priest ever since he was an altar boy but went on to practice law for 20 years before he entered the seminary.

``I'm aware of how much people have been hurt,'' he said, referring to the sexual abuse crisis and the parish closings. ``But the church has always faced difficult times but the Holy Spirit gets us through. He's in it for the long haul.''

ADRIAN -- Complaints of sexual abuse by two United Methodist Church ministers were voiced Saturday from the sidewalk in front of the Adrian College campus where an annual weekend gathering of church leaders in the Detroit Conference was taking place.

A board member of the national group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests held a press conference along with a Dearborn Heights man who said his former minister destroyed his marriage and sexually harassed his four daughters.

After the press conference, SNAP board member Janet Patterson of Kansas walked across the campus to try to hand deliver a letter to Michigan Conference Bishop, Jonathan Keaton.

She was not able to meet with him. She also passed out copies of her letter to people attending the conference, including to one of the two ministers SNAP is asking the church to take action against.

Patterson is the mother of a sexual abuse victim who committed suicide nearly six years ago at the age of 29. She said he was abused by their family's Catholic priest when he was 12 years old.

The Rev. Robert J. Carr of St. Benedict's Parish in Somerville, Mass. has written the following (edited) letter to U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch:

Dear Mr. Lynch,

I read in the Boston Herald that John Harris [an alleged victim of the Rev. Paul Shanley] wants a congressional investigation into the crisis in the Church. I support it, but I'd like to include how the media and government handled the crisis in the Church.

I have been calling for this publicly for several years. As a United States Navy Veteran (STG2), I witnessed terrible things done to my parishioners with the full support of our state government and media. You will find a list of them in the first column I wrote for Catholic Online in which I describe my innocent parishioners as true Catholic heroes:

http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=554

I am well-known as the author of Be Fooled No More, a list of agendas using the crisis behind the scenes to stage a coup of the Roman Catholic Church. I removed it down for awhile to concentrate more on my primary role of serving the people, but I put it up now for your inspection and the inspection of some others.

May 21, 2005

ROME, May 21 - The founder of an influential Roman Catholic order in Mexico will not face a church trial on longstanding allegations that he molested teenagers, a Vatican spokesman said on Saturday.

In December, the Vatican opened a full-scale investigation into the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the 85-year-old founder of the Legionaries of Christ and a prominent religious figure in Mexico. At least eight people came forward in the late 1990's to accuse him of abusing them between 1943 and the early 1960's.

But on Saturday, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, the spokesman, said that no charges would be brought against Father Maciel. He did not say why the investigation was ended.

"There is no investigation now, and it is not foreseeable that there will be another investigation in the future," Father Ciro said by telephone.

The news seems likely to receive particular scrutiny since it is the first major sex abuse case - one of the most important issues facing the church in North America - decided under Pope Benedict XVI.

Before he became pope last month, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was responsible for overseeing investigations into priests accused of sexual abuse.

The following is a significant portion of the text of a lawsuit filed May 20, 2005, in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court by attorneys Sharon Bourassa, Joe Titone and Mark Viethe. (Note: Sharon Bourassa has informed me that "the lawsuit was altered yesterday [May 20], shortened. It has been filed. It basically says the same thing, but some of the causes of action have been changed. We have just summed it up better.")

PLAINTIFF'S VERIFIED COMPLAINT

COMES NOW, the Plaintiff, Father Andrew Dowgiert, by and through his undersigned counsel, and sues Defendants, ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI, ARCHBISHOP JOHN C. FAVALORA, MONSIGNOR WILLIAM J. HENNESSEY and FATHER ANIBAL MORALES, and alleges as follows: ...

Approximately 17 years ago, Father Andrew was ordained in Poland under Bishop Kiesiel in Bialystok, close to Lithuania. The Bishop knew Fr. Andrew for approximately 12 years and for 5 of those years, Fr. Andrew worked as a priest under Bishop Kiesiel in Poland. Father Andrew then requested permission by the Bishop to be sent to Zimbabwe, Africa as a missionary priest. Fr. Andrew was a missionary priest in Zimbabwe from 1994-1999. There he contacted Malaria and further, the political climate being very dangerous at the time, as the political government did not like Catholic priests, Father Andrew returned to Poland. In Poland, he requested that he be sent to the Archdiocese of Miami, Florida to continue to fulfill his priestly duties.

In 1999, the Archbishop assigned Father Andrew to St. Justin Martyr Catholic Church, in Key Largo, Florida. See attached hereto Plaintiff's Composite Exhibit C. While Father Andrew continued his priestly duties at St. Justin Martyr's, the Pastor, Father Olszewski, was removed for sexual misconduct on minors. During the time that Father Andrew worked under Father Olszewski, he was not compensated his full salary of $1450.00 a month, amounting to in excess of fifteen thousand ($15,000.00) dollars. Father Olszewski paid Father Andrew only five hundred ($500.00) dollars a month. See W-4 forms attached hereto as Plaintiff's Composite Exhibit D.

The disclosures this week from the Diocese of Orange put names and faces to two decades of cover-ups and left one indelible impression: The hierarchy was all too human.

As human as any corporate executive trying to save his skin in an accounting scandal. As human as any cop or military man protecting a fellow officer from charges of excessive force. As human as any gang member refusing to rat out the shooter in a drive-by.

In street terms, it's called the code of silence.

I don't know what they called it in the diocese.

I know all too well that many readers have had it up to here with stories about priests or other diocesan officials or educators who molested or otherwise sexually abused young people. Those readers, who have made their displeasure known to me and others at the newspaper, argue that the point has been made and that it's time to move on.

These stories won't run forever, but the release this week of 10,000 pages of documents — keep in mind they were from only one diocese — underscore that we probably didn't have a full grasp of just how deep the cover-ups were during the period preceding the administration of the current bishop, Tod D. Brown.

GREEN BAY — The Green Bay Press-Gazette has filed a protest to an accused pedophile priest’s efforts to bar media coverage of his court case.

Donald Buzanowski, 62, faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child. He is accused of fondling a 10-year-old boy while serving as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay. Buzanowski’s attorney, Owen Monfils, filed a motion April 6 asking to bar reporters from hearings leading up to trial.

Buzanowski’s motion claimed that information argued during motion hearings could prejudice potential jurors in the case. Brown County Circuit Judge J.D. McKay has resisted a change of venue in the case or the option of bringing in jurors from another county.

Buzanowski, who is still a priest, remains in custody in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. Buzanowski has not served as a priest since 1989, and the Green Bay diocese has asked the Vatican to laicize Buzanowski. Officials in Rome have not yet acted, however.

Joseph Thornton, the attorney representing the newspaper, said WLUK-TV Channel 11 has asked to join in the protest, but documents to that effect have not been prepared.

A former pastor accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl more than a dozen years ago, was found guilty of sexual assault of a child today.

Duane Hammons, 47, was found guilty on four charges of sexual assault of a child and two charges of indecency with a child by contact.

The charges stem from four sexual encounters ranging from 1992 to 1994, when the now-28-year-old woman was a freshman and sophomore in high school. The jury found him not guilty on two counts of indecency with a child by contact.

He faces up to 20 years in prison, but may be granted probation.

Hammons, a former pastor of The Church of God in Christ, was asked to counsel the teenager because she was having trouble at home and didn't have many friends.

The woman testified that Hammons would pick her up from Holmes High School and take her to a string of cheap motels to have sex.

JERUSALEM — In a devastating blow to the credibility of Israel's state rabbinic establishment, the nation's Sephardic chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar, was interrogated this week by the police on suspicion of complicity in the abduction and beating of a 17-year-old youth who was dating his daughter.

Amar is not known to be suspected of direct involvement in the assault, but he is believed to have been present in his home while the youth was being beaten. His wife, a son and several associates were being detained this week on suspicion of direct involvement.

The case, embarrassing in itself, is particularly damaging to the rabbinate because it comes just two months after police questioned Israel's other chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, in an unrelated case. Metzger was the first chief rabbi in Israeli history to undergo criminal interrogation.

Metzger is under investigation on suspicion of receiving unlawful benefits from a Jerusalem hotel. The charges are the latest in a string of suspicions, including sexual abuse and extortion, that have dogged him for years, beginning long before he was named Ashkenazic chief rabbi in 2003.

With the Metzger probe still open, the eruption of the Amar affair has touched off anguished talk in some Orthodox circles that the very institution of the Chief Rabbinate is threatened.

"The chief rabbis were once like a lighthouse of righteousness, the moral compasses of the nation," said Rabbi Yehuda Gilad, a former Knesset member who heads the respected Ma'ale Gilboa yeshiva. "Today, the way things are going, I won't mourn the passing of the institution."

The Rev. Msgr. Paul D. Theroux will join members of Voice of the Faithful in a roundtable discussion of current issues facing the Church, including his experience in handling cases of sexual abuse by diocesan clergy, Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Christ the King Parish Hall, 180 Old North Rd., Kingston.

Rabbi Hershel Billet, who chaired the Rabbinical Council of America`s Vaad Hakavod process leading to the RCA`s expulsion of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, has at least partially lifted the RCA`s extraordinary veil of secrecy surrounding the matter (news story, page 3). Rather than settle the matter, though, his disclosures raise questions beyond those we’ve articulated in a series of editorials these past few weeks. And the implications go far beyond the issue of Rabbi Tendler.

For one thing, the newly revealed identities of the members of the Vaad present special problems. Some of the members are individuals known to have had very public — and in some instances very nasty — disputes on unrelated subjects with Rabbi Tendler. Further, it appears that there is significant overlap between membership on the Vaad and on the RCA`s Executive Committee to which the Vaad made its recommendations. Thus, not only is there the unfortunate appearance of possible lack of impartiality, but apparently the Vaad, in large measure, reports to itself for confirmation of its own recommendations. And still unanswered is why one member of the Vaad, a rabbi, resigned — according to one source it was because this individual was upset by what he perceived to be “an agenda” on the part of some Vaad members; by the prejudicial leaks to the newspapers; and by the role of non-rabbi members of the Vaad.

Also of great interest is the startling revelation that Rabbi Billet sought to get a principal witness against Rabbi Tendler to disavow her recantation of negative things she’d said to the Vaad Hakavod about Rabbi Tendler. That witness, described publicly as "Joanna, the Jamaican cleaning lady," testified before a formal Monsey, New York, bet din that her earlier statements to the Vaad about Rabbi Tendler were spoken in error. The recantation, it needs to be emphasized, was made to a formal halachic bet din. Nevertheless, Rabbi Billet, who was chairing a non-halachic panel, attempted to have her change her testimony. Extraordinary.

Saturday, May 21, 2005
By Keith O'Brien
Staff writer
HAMMOND -- As a boy, family members recalled, Louis David Lamonica never cursed or smoked. He was called to serve the Lord, said his sister Liz Lamonica Roberts on Friday, and he wanted to be a preacher just like his daddy.

And so when news broke this week that Lamonica, 45, and seven other members of his church in Hammond were arrested for allegedly participating in, or failing to report, sex acts with children, family members were horrified.

It's not that Lamonica has been perfect over the years. To the contrary, family members said Friday that he has been filled, at times, with anger as he pushed them out of his life and his church.

But murder, said Roberts, would be easier to accept than the aggravated rape charges facing her oldest brother, who became pastor of the Hosanna Church in 1993 and is now at the center of a growing investigation into what some are calling the cult-like activities of the curious congregation.

Some of the alleged activities include the sexual abuse of juveniles and animals, such as dogs and cats, police said. Chief Charles Fitz, the director of investigations at the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, said Friday that there may be as many as two dozen victims, ranging in age from 1 to 20. And more arrests may follow, he said, as investigators from Tangipahoa, the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, the Ponchatoula Police Department, state Child Protective Services and the FBI continue to interview people and analyze seized computers.

For more than two decades, Kenneth Wooden has crisscrossed America to teach parents, educators, community leaders and church officials techniques to protect and save young lives.

On Friday, the 69-year-old, a best-selling author and creator of the accredited child protection program "Child Lures Prevention," journeyed to Saginaw Township to discuss -- frequently in graphic detail -- with Catholic Diocese of Saginaw parishioners how "sophisticated pedophiles stalk, lure and capture their victims."

"It's much better to teach kids how to recognize signs of danger long before a tragedy happens," Wooden said, "because there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that can prepare you or the children for the types of things a sexual predator will do.

Saturday, May 21, 2005
Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette said Friday that one of its executives resigned after the nonprofit learned he had sexually abused a child decades ago when he was a Catholic priest in Idaho.

Jim Worsley resigned Thursday as the nonprofit's deputy director of transitional services, said Robert Barsocchini, Goodwill's human resources director and general counsel. Worsley had worked for Portland-based Goodwill since 1994, Barsocchini said.

Goodwill knew Worsley had been a priest but was unaware of his sexual misconduct until a Boise-based reporter contacted Goodwill on Thursday, Barsocchini said. Worsley then confessed, said he was involved with the Catholic Church in a settlement and immediately resigned, Barsocchini said.

THE police are to contact the Abbey Grammar School in Newry in relation to the placing of a secret camera in students’ changing rooms, it was confirmed this week.

In a statement issued to the Democrat, a PSNI spokeswoman said, “The protection of children and young persons is an important goal for all in society including parents, teachers and public services, including the police service. We are aware of speculation in relation to a school in the Newry and Mourne area raising concerns and we intend to contact the school with a view to pursuing this matter.”

She added that should any formal complaint be made to police, it will be fully investigated.

Meanwhile, an organisation which combats internet child pornography and the trafficking of children has also expressed an interest in the Abbey controversy.

Gregory Carlin, the director of the Belfast based Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition, told the Democrat that he has been in contact with both the police and Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore in relation to the matter. In correspondence forwarded to Mr Carlin, Bishop McAreavey indicated that responsibility for governing the school lies with its board of governors and the Christian Brothers and added that he is not the correct party with whom the issue should be raised.

SPRINGFIELD DIOCESE
(AP) Five people -- including a state senator, a state police sergeant and a mother -- have been named to a panel to examine the behavior of Catholic priests in the Springfield Diocese. Formation of the panel -- which now also includes a priest and a nun -- was announced three months ago by Springfield Bishop George Lucas following the beating of Monsignor Eugene Costa in a local park late last year.

The remaining 170 alleged priest sex-abuse victims who are waiting for resolution on their claims could see movement soon, the Archdiocese of Boston said.

The archdiocese yesterday said it received $8.5 million from St. Paul Travelers, an insurance company it used in the 1980s. The archdiocese held off on negotiations on the 170 new abuse lawsuits until settling with Travelers.

Alleged victims who missed the deadline for the first $85 million settlement reached last year have been waiting in ``emotional limbo,'' said Anne Webb, a member of Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests.

``When a person is waiting for this to happen, it's really hard on the survivor,'' she said.

The St. Paul Travelers deal was the second of two the archdiocese was waiting for before launching negotiations with the accusers. In March, the church reached a$20 million settlement with Lumbermens Mutual Casualty.

Associated Press
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - A priest accused of molesting a 10-year-old boy while serving as a counselor at a Catholic school in 1988 asked Friday to change his plea to include a claim that he was not mentally responsible.

The lawyer for Donald Buzanowski, 62, filed a motion for him to plead not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, in addition to his previous plea of not guilty. If found guilty of the charges, he then would have a second phase of his trial on his sanity at the time.

Buzanowski is charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child stemming from alleged incidents when he served as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay.

Defense lawyer Owen Monfils has also filed a motion to bar reporters from hearings leading up to trial. He contended that information from motion hearings could prejudice potential jurors in the case.

A former priest, who was deported from the United States over four years ago, subsequently setting up home in Thurles, was said to have left the area as we went to press.
Oliver O’Grady, a native of Limerick City, had been living in rented accommodation on the Dublin Road prior to Thursday last but is now said to have left the house.
A former priest, Mr. O’Grady was ordained in St. Patrick’s College in Thurles in 1971 for the Diocese of Stockton in California.
However, he was laicised following his conviction for sexually abusing two young brothers in the Stockton Diocese in the 1980s and he was deported to Ireland in January 2001 after serving seven years in California State Prison for the offences.
Mr. O’Grady is understood to have taken up residence in Thurles in 2002, renting accommodation in a house on the Dublin Road.
During his time in the town he was said to have kept to himself and the ‘Tipperary Star’ understands that gardai in the town were aware of his presence and were monitoring the situation.
The 59-years-old Limerick man came to national prominence late last week after a transcript of a deposition he had given in relation to the abuse was lodged in a California Court days earlier.

A call from a Central Ohio home led authorities near New Orleans to uncover what they think is a church cult that sexually abused children.

Three men, including a sheriff’s deputy, an ex-pastor and a former church worker have been arrested on rape charges as part of an investigation into an alleged child sex abuse ring that may have operated out of a church near Ponchatoula, Louisiana.

Investigators in the Tangipahoa Parish and Livingston Parish Sheriff’s office say the charges are deeply disturbing, including allegations that the children were taught to perform sex on each other and animals.

Louis Lamonica, 45, the former pastor at the Hosanna Church near Ponchatoula; 24-year-old Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Labat; and 36-year-old Austin Bernard, who allegedly worked in the Hosanna Church, were all arrested on rape charges.

The financially strapped Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has reached an $8.5 million settlement with the second of two insurance carriers and has reached agreements to sell property associated with six closing parishes for at least $10 million.

The insurance settlement and the property sales will help the archdiocese bring some order to its financial situation, which has been severely harmed by the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The archdiocese has closed 62 parishes since last summer, has cut 19 percent of its administrative staff since 2002, and is now contemplating reducing pension benefits for priests.

Archdiocesan officials declined to disclose the sale prices for the six properties yesterday, but according to property purchasers and public records, church officials agreed to sell the largest -- Blessed Sacrament church, school, rectory, and convent campus in Cambridge -- to a developer for at least $5.6 million. An official from a Jamaica Plain Pentecostal church said that the congregation had reached a $2.8 million purchase and sale agreement for the former St. Joseph Church, rectory, and hall in Hyde Park.

In Quincy, a group of private developers confirmed that they had reached an agreement with the archdiocese to buy the former Most Blessed Sacrament Parish rectory in Hough's Neck for $815,000. In Medford, Tufts University spent $1.1 million for the former Sacred Heart Church and its rectory, according to a record of the purchase filed with the county registry of deeds. Sale prices of the other two properties, in Lowell and Malden, were unavailable yesterday.

The archdiocese said the proceeds of the sales will be used to help finance archdiocesan operations and support remaining parishes, but will not be used to finance settlements with abuse victims.

The archdiocese is paying for the portion of the abuse settlements that is not covered by insurance with money from last year's $99 million sale to Boston College of a 43-acre portion of the archdiocesan headquarters in Brighton.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican has confirmed that it plans no canonical process against the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, investigated for alleged sexual abuse of teenagers under his care.

The Vatican confirmation came after the Legionaries issued a May 20 statement saying that "there is no canonical process under way into our founder, Father Marcial Maciel, LC, nor will one be initiated." Father Maciel has consistently denied the accusations made against him.

The confirmation was issued by Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, after Catholic News Service asked him about the Legionaries' statement.

The decision not to start a canonical process comes after Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, an official of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, traveled to Mexico and the United States earlier this year to interview adults who said they were abused by Father Maciel, now 85, when they were teenage seminarians of the Legionaries.

"We hold no grudge against those who accuse us; rather, we keep them in our prayers while expressing our humblest gratitude to the countless people of good will who in these circumstances have reiterated to us their support and esteem," said the Legionaries' statement.

BOISE -
The former Boise priest who now lives in Portland was not answering his door today, one day after he resigned his position as an executive at Goodwill Industries when Local 2 News confronted him with a decades-old child abuse scandal.

TJ Hopper says the impact of the sexual abuse inflicted on him by former priest Jim Worsley at St. Paul's Catholic Center in Boise from 1976 to 1980 devastated his life.

"It's manifested itself in chronic depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post traumatic stress," Hopper said in an exclusive interview with Local 2 News.

Hopper, now 40, blocked the childhood abuse from his memory until 1992 and now says he wants justice in the form of a financial settlement from the Boise Diocese for Worsley's actions.

"He suffered no consequences, as a result of this," said Hopper, a Caldwell native. "I on the other hand, have a lifetime of consequences I've had to deal with."

May 20, 2005

PONCHATOULA, La.— The pastor of what authorities called a "cult-like" church has been arrested in an investigation of possible sexual abuse of up to two dozen children.

The pastor's wife, a sheriff's deputy, and five other church members were also arrested on sex charges this week, and all remained in custody without bond Friday.

The alleged victims ranged in age from infants to teens, officials said. Animal abuse was also alleged.

The roundup came after a woman called sheriff's deputies five weeks ago from Columbus, Ohio, to say that she had fled Louisiana out of fear for her child, authorities said. She and her husband were among those arrested.

In the unsettled atmosphere of a Church rocked to its core by clerical sexual abuse scandals, Catholics, facing a dearth of priestly vocations, anxiously cast about for signs of hope. Until recently, one of those signs has been the Legion of Christ. Spurred on by Pope John Paul II’s demonstrative approval of Father Maciel, the Legion’s founder, the Rome based religious order has made enormous inroads in certain U.S. circles. Founded in Mexico in 1941 by Marciel Maciel Degollado when he was a seminarian, the Legion now claims 500 priests, another 2,500 seminarians, eleven universities and over 150 prep schools worldwide. Legionary priests serve in the United States. The order operates a seminary and novitiate in Connecticut. The lay movement associated with the Legion is called Regnum Christi.

But today the luster surrounding the Legion is showing tarnish. There are skirmishes between Legionaries and lay people over schools. Three U. S. dioceses have forbidden the Legion to operate within their environs: the Diocese of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Archbishop Harry Flynn, Columbus, OH, Bishop Emertius James A. Griffin, and Baton Rouge, LA, Bishop Robert Muench. The Legion and its auxiliary lay movement, Regnum Christi, are coming under fire from former members. They accuse the order of manipulation, mind-control, and subversive tactics that could rise to the level of a cult. Former Legionaries and Regnum Christi members have formed a network, ReGain. Through ReGain’s web site, which features news articles and personal testimonies, members say they seek to inform the public of the true nature of the Legion’s policies and practices as well as to provide healing and reintegration for those psychologically damaged by the order. (www.regainnetwork.org) The most explosive situation for the Legion of Christ, however, is the charges made by a number of former Legionary priests that Father Maciel sexually abused them for years beginning when they were children in the Legion’s minor seminaries.

In the United States, the Legion has operated an almost a subterranean existence in Connecticut since the middle sixties. Very little was known about them until the past ten years. In the early 1990s, a Hartford Courant journalist, George Renner, attempted to interview the Rev. Anthony Bannon, the Legion’s national director for a story on the seminary. Bannon’s unexpected refusal to talk to a journalist peaked Renner’s interest, and he began to look more closely at the order. When Renner wrote an article about the Legion in a March 25, 1996 issue of the Courant, he began receiving phone calls about the secretive Cheshire seminary where “200 young men in black cassocks do preparatory studies for the priesthood before further schooling in Spain and Italy.” After meeting with several former seminarians, all of whom complained of being ensnared in a closed system and subjected to fierce control and brainwashing, Renner wrote more extensively about the Legion’s strange practices.

It’s downright gut-wrenching to watch a man like Michael Weston cry. Broad-faced, strong-jawed, with intense eyes shaded by thick eyebrows and his baseball cap on backwards, Weston personifies tough. He’s also articulate and expressive. His entire face engages when he speaks. He squints to stress a point. He lilts and tosses his head, Bill-Murray-esque, to punctuate the irony of a statement. His eyes burn incredulous as he recalls painful memories. And he cries. Big, unrelenting tears flow down his face when he talks about it.

“He grabbed my hand with incredible force; he was actually pretty strong,” Weston says. “I remember he had strong forearms, and he grabbed my hand and he placed my hand … [here’s where Weston breaks down and begins to cry] … he placed my hand on his genitals and he started to—he was already erect and he was already excited and I didn’t know what to do and he had such an iron grip on my hand—he started masturbating himself with my hand. And then I started to fight and told him to stop, and I got very upset and started to stiffen up and started to squeeze on him a little bit, and he didn’t like that and he got very angry. Mr. Wittlake violently tore away my pants or underwear or whatever I was wearing and he tried, you know, he put his mouth on me and tried to get me aroused, and … I wasn’t at all aroused. What went through my mind at the time was, ‘Oh my God, he knows about Nelson and he’s pissed off that Nelson got me first.’ He, uh, then he just started, he started, you know, he just, you know, he just, fucked, he fucked me, like that.”

Welcome to Weston’s nightmare.

Weston attended high school at Monterey Bay Academy in La Selva Beach, for just one semester back in the 1980s. But that was plenty of time for two teachers, Ron Wittlake and Lowell Nelson, to repeatedly sexually molest Weston, according to Weston’s testimony and a complaint filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Monterey Bay Academy is run by the Central California Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Weston, now in his late thirties, was born into a devout Adventist family and grew up a faithful Adventist. His father is a pastor in the church.

By ARIEL HART
Published: May 20, 2005
The pastor of a Louisiana church and six of its members, including the pastor's wife and a sheriff's deputy, have been arrested in what the police described as a cult-like sex ring that abused children and animals.

All seven are being held on charges of aggravated rape, including rape of a child younger than 13, which can be prosecuted as a capital crime in the state, the authorities said.

Five other adults were identified yesterday as "persons of interest" at a meeting of seven law enforcement agencies, including the F.B.I., said Deputy Chuck Reed, a spokesman for the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Reed said the police wanted to interview as many as 24 children as possible victims in incidents that might date to 1998.

Eight people have now been arrested in connection with the church based sex cult in Tangipahoa Parish. That includes four more suspects who were booked Thursday. Three of the suspects are women. Authorities say many children were raped at that church, as well as dogs and cats.

21-year old Paul Fontenot of Ponchatoula was arrested and faces a charge of aggravated rape of a juvenile. 36-year-old Nicole Bernard also faces that same charge. She was picked up by the FBI in Ohio. Nicole Bernard is the former wife of Austin bernard the third, who's also been arrested in this investigation.

45-year old Robin Lamonica is the wife of the former pastor of the Hosana Church in Ponchatoula. She is also charged with raping a child. Investigators say Lamonica had sex with a young boy from the time he was four until he was 13-years-old.

Four other people were already in custody, including 46-year-old Allen Pierson. Detectives say he had sex with a girl when she was nine or ten years old. The other three suspects in custody are former Tangipahoa deputy Christopher Labat, church pastor Louis Lamonica and Austin "Trey" Bernard the third. All face sex charges.

As a 15-year-old girl, she had a troubled family life and few friends, so fellow congregation members advised her to seek the counsel of one of their church pastors.

But instead of guiding and mentoring her, one church leader took her to a string of cheap motels and forced her to have sex with him.

That was the testimony of a 27-year-old woman who told jurors Thursday that Duane Hammons, a former pastor of The Church of God in Christ, began having sex with her when she was a freshman at Holmes High School.

"I trusted him," she told jurors. "He was the only person I could talk to. He was the only man in my life that made me feel important."

Hammons, 47, is charged with sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by contact. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The woman's identity is being withheld because the San Antonio Express-News does not reveal the names of victims of sex-related crimes.

The Diocese of Stockton will pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that a former Roman Catholic priest raped a boy in a church confessional while he forced the child to say penance.

The settlement, announced Thursday, is the latest involving Oliver Francis O'Grady, a former Stockton priest who spent seven years in state prison for child molestation before U.S. immigration authorities deported him to Ireland in 2001.

O'Grady's chillingly frank account of his decades-long sexual attraction to children refocused national attention on the clergy sexual abuse scandal last week.

In a 15-hour videotaped deposition, he admitted molesting 25 children, and described how he groomed his young victims for abuse. At one point, he looked into the camera, softened his voice, and demonstrated how he might lure a young girl into his arms, with the intention of fondling her.

He denies, however, molesting the man who just settled with the diocese.

Costa Mesa attorney John C. Manly, who represents that plaintiff, now 42, said the O'Grady case was emblematic of the church hierarchy's failure to stop predator priests or to warn parishioners of the danger.

IOWA CITY (AP) --- A Roman Catholic priest who was convicted last year of using a church computer to download child pornography has been hired on to the maintenance staff at the Davenport Diocese, church officials say.

The Rev. Richard Poster, the former director of liturgy and publisher of the newspaper for the diocese, pleaded guilty in August 2003 to receiving pictures of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He was sentenced to one year in federal prison and was released earlier this year.

Although Poster remains a priest, he is barred from any ministerial duties pending a Vatican decision whether he should be defrocked.

Diocese spokesman David Montgomery said Poster was hired by a diocese review board to perform maintenance duties at the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Davenport. His employment includes several conditions, including direct supervision and no contact with children.

"Father Poster will be assigned job duties that are consistent with special conditions of his release, as required by his probation officer," Montgomery said. "He has direct supervision ... without access to computers."

Calling Thomas Hodgman "an exemplary faculty member," Adrian College officials yesterday stood by their choir director, a day after the unintended release of documents that indicate he admitted to having a sexual relationship with a California high school student 16 years ago.

Mr. Hodgman resigned his position at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana., Calif., in 1989 because of the relationship, according to documents obtained by The Blade.

In January, Adrian students learned about the allegations against Mr. Hodgman when the Diocese of Orange County, of which Mater Dei is part, agreed to settle lawsuits with dozens of alleged victims of sexual abuse.

Among those accused was Mr. Hodgman, whom former student Joelle Casteix said had carried on a relationship with her, gotten her pregnant, and passed on a sexually transmitted disease. Ms. Casteix is now an outspoken critic of the Orange County diocese's handling of sex abuse cases and wondered why the man she said was her abuser, Mr. Hodgman, was working as a choir director at the southeast Michigan school.

Mr. Hodgman, who has repeatedly declined to return Blade calls, had initially called the case "bogus." He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Two men sued the St. Louis Archdiocese Thursday claiming that as young boys, Roman Catholic priests sexually abused them.

Both lawsuits say the church should have protected them from abuse and that the church should have known that Rev. Romano Ferraro and Rev. Norman Christian were dangerous.

The lawsuit filed by John Doe GS, a computer industry worker who lives in the St. Louis area, says Ferraro molested him multiple times between 1980 and 1983, while Romano was at St. Joan of Arc Parish.

The lawsuit filed by John Doe 111C says that Christian fondled him in 1970 to 1971, when the boy was 11 to 12 years old. Christian was at Sacred Heart Church in Crystal City, the suit says.

Retirement works wonders. When Cardinal Bernard F. Law led a memorial mass for Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica last month, it was as if his long tenure as archbishop of Boston had been unblemished, his resignation under pressure in 2002 forgotten.

Even the cardinal seemed to have banished unpleasant memories. When the ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos veered from the topic of John Paul II's legacy to ask the former archbishop if he thought he could have done more to address the problem of pedophile priests, Cardinal Law looked as if he had been slapped. "You know, I, I don't know that this is a time to be reflecting on that issue," the cardinal replied stiffly, before adding that of course he deplored his and others' failures.

John Paul II's death and the election of Pope Benedict XVI helped divert public attention from the issue, which only three years ago dominated newspapers and Sunday sermons. "Our Fathers," a Showtime movie tomorrow about the uncovering of the sexual abuse in the Boston Diocese, is a jarring reminder of the crimes that were covered up or excused for generations.

The film, based on David France's book "Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal" (Broadway Books, 2004), turns the spotlight back to Boston and the shattered lives of Catholic children. The film's scrutiny is relentless, but respectful and not without mercy: "Our Fathers" is not a horror story about monsters in clerical collars, but a horrifying story of sick priests and their innocent victims.

A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport — recently released from federal prison for possession of child pornography on a diocese-owned laptop — has been rehired by the diocese for janitorial work at its headquarters.

Diocese leaders decided to employ the Rev. Richard Poster, 40, in the maintenance department of its Pastoral Center, 2706 N. Gaines St., as they await a decision from the Vatican about a request to remove him from the priesthood, spokesman David Montgomery said.

“(Poster) has direct supervision without contact with children and without access to computers,” Montgomery said in a written statement. “Father Poster will be assigned job duties that are consistent with special conditions of his release, as required by his probation officer.”

However, Al Burke of LeClaire, Iowa, said employing Poster “is an absolute disgrace” for a diocese that gave no outreach to him and other people who tried in the past few years to report the names of priests who sexually abused them decades ago.

Bishop William Franklin of the Diocese of Davenport has announced he will resign after 11 years as the leader of Roman Catholics in eastern Iowa.

Franklin celebrated his 75th birthday early this month and submitted his resignation as required to Pope Benedict XVI. He will continue in his current role until a successor is appointed and said he plans to remain in Davenport. ...

In recent years, his tenure has been clouded by allegations of child sexual abuse committed by Davenport Diocese priests, with many of the cases dating as far back as 1950.

On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004, he issued a report showing that 65 allegations had been made against 20 priests from the diocese between 1950 and 2002.

The diocese sent requests to the Vatican in June to defrock five priests, and Pope John Paul II removed one of them, James Janssen of Davenport, July 28. The other four requests are still pending.

In October, the diocese paid $9 million to settle 37 civil claims of sexual abuse by priests.

The Catholic Church has spent an unusually large amount of time in the spotlight lately. The death of an immensely popular pope, his lengthy funeral rites and the selection of his successor have focused a mostly positive light on the church.

The rites and rituals have been a welcome relief, one presumes, from the critical eye cast upon the church the past few years in the wake of sexual-abuse scandals that rocked dioceses around the country, including in Arizona. So it may seem as if it would be impossible that a dramatic adaptation of the sexual-abuse scandal in the Boston diocese would serve as anything but fodder for continued controversy, or maybe an excuse to lob cheap shots at the Catholic Church and its priests.

Yet that's not the case with Our Fathers, a compelling Showtime film that centers on Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law. He eventually resigned after it was learned that, aware of their crimes, he had merely reassigned pedophile priests for years, a decision that allowed them to continue abusing children. The scandal spread throughout the country as more victims came forward, including many in Arizona, costing the church millions of dollars in settlements.

To be sure, harsh criticisms are made about the church's silence concerning the scandal and of Law's handling of it. But they're legitimate criticisms, made all the more so here by the portrayal of the victims and their suffering.

The Rio Grande Valley, like other parts of the United States, has seen allegations of clergy members preying on members of their congregations. And South Texas, as elsewhere, has also encountered Roman Catholic Church officials more concerned with sweeping such incidents under the rug than with justice and preventing further crimes.

So it’s interesting to read about church documents released as part of a settlement of a sexual abuse lawsuit in Orange County, Calif.

As expected, many of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange’s once- secret personnel files were released on Tuesday, and the facts inside the files prove what church critics have long argued: Church leaders knew about priests who had molested and raped children, yet they continued to let them serve as priests where they could continue to prey on the youngest, most vulnerable members of the community.

Orange Bishop Tod Brown called the documents "painful testimony" and earlier responses by the diocese "inadequate and failed."

Even when the diocese had to face up to its actions and inaction, officials there downplayed what they knew. "The files show that diocesan officials knew that at least three priests they accepted to work in Orange County had previously been in trouble for sexual abuse of children in other dioceses," the Orange County Register reported.

ST. LOUIS — A Roman Catholic priest who opted to stay in prison while authorities challenge a dismissal of his convictions for sexual misconduct involving boys has been dismissed from the clergy.

Former Archbishop Justin Rigali had initiated the often-lengthy laicization proceedings against James Beine in October 2003 “for the welfare of all children and for the welfare of the Church,” the archdiocese said Thursday in a news release.

Beine, 63, was suspended from the priesthood in 1977 over allegations of sexual abuse. In the mid-1990s, the Archdiocese of St. Louis paid $110,000 to settle two lawsuits alleging that Beine had sexually abused boys more than three decades earlier.

“James Beine has credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against him dating back 30 years,” the archdiocese said.

By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
May 20, 2005
The Rev. Drake Shafer, the former vicar general of the Davenport Diocese, wants to work as a priest again after settling a civil lawsuit involving sexual abuse of a teenage boy in the 1970s, said his lawyer.

Shafer was second-in-command in the diocese until he was suspended three years ago when a West Burlington man sued him and the diocese. The diocese settled with the unnamed man last fall and Shafer settled this month, agreeing to pay the man's mental health costs.

In a 2002 e-mail to the man that was made public in a court hearing, Schafer apologized and said the incident was an isolated transgression in his priesthood. He acknowledged getting drunk on the night in question, that he didn't intend to hurt the boy, and that he was himself abused as a child by a priest.

Bishop William E. Franklin has not made a recommendation on Shafer.

Peter Fieweger, Shafer's attorney, said Thursday that he did not think Shafer's settling the lawsuit was an obstacle to resuming his priestly duties.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Stockton diocese and lawyers for a victim of abuse by a former priest have agreed to settle a pending civil claim for $3 million, an attorney said Thursday.

The unidentified victim accused the diocese of failing to protect him from a known molester, Oliver O'Grady, who served as a priest at St. Anne's in Lodi in the 1970s. The diocese has already paid more than $10 million for claims involving O'Grady.

A statement from Stockton Bishop Stephen Blaire said the diocese was pleased to "bring this matter to closure," and it looked forward to continuing "to reach fair and just resolutions for the victims of childhood sexual abuse."

The agreement was reached late Wednesday, according to plaintiff's lawyer John Manly.

"It's very clear that there were many priests, like Father O'Grady, who were serial pedophiles who spent as much time in ministry as they did hurting kids," Manly said. "My client's abuse is horrific and without his courage to come out of the shadows, none of this would have been possible."

In "Our Fathers," a new made-for-television movie about the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, one scene shows the fear and horror on a boy's face when his priest takes him for an afternoon drive to buy ice cream.

The segment haunts Bernie McDaid. He was that boy.

"I hid in the bushes to get away because I knew what would happen," McDaid said of the assault that followed. "My mother caught me and said, `How can you hide from a priest?' You're supposed to be able to trust your priest."

He hopes the two-hour movie, which debuts on Showtime at 7 p.m. Saturday, brings public awareness to the issue and knowledge that it can happen to anyone--if not by a priest then by a coach, a teacher or someone else you trust.

The film tells the real-life events of the scandal that broke in 2002 when a judge ordered that church documents about reports of abuse be unsealed. Since then, hundreds of people have said they were sexually abused and Cardinal Bernard Law of the Boston archdiocese resigned.

The stories of the victims are at the core of "Our Fathers," but the movie also tells the story of a careful cover-up by church hierarchy and discovery of the truth by a courageous attorney and the Boston Globe.

ROMA, May 20, 2005 – Last April 2, just as John Paul II was dying in Rome, in New York the promoter of justice for the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Charles J. Scicluna, from Malta, was interviewing Paul Lennon, the former headmaster of a "School of Faith" run by the Legionaries of Christ. Mr. Lennon, who is Irish, is now a psychotherapist in Alexandria, Virginia, and a witness against one of the most revered and powerful men of the Catholic Church worldwide: Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, 85, from Mexico, the founder of the Legionaries and the apple of pope Karol Wojtyla's eye.

With 650 priests, 2,500 students of theology, 1,000 consecrated laypeople, 30,000 active members in twenty nations, and dozens of high-level schools and universities – two of which are in Rome; one of pontifical right, inaugurated in 2002, the Regina Apostolorum; and another which has just been recognized by the Italian government, the European University of Rome – the Legionaries of Christ are a staggering success story.

Last November 30 (see photo), John Paul II publicly embraced their founder, Maciel, and congratulated him on his 60th anniversary of priestly ordination, in the jubilant atmosphere of a Vatican audience hall filled to bursting with thousands of Legionaries and militants of Regnum Christi, the order's parallel lay association.

Four days earlier, on the 26th, pope Wojtyla had given over to the "care and management" of the Legionaries nothing less than the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem, a substantial meeting place and center of hospitality owned by the Holy See and located just a few steps away from the Holy Sepulchre.

But meanwhile, in another Vatican building, that of the former Holy Office, the then cardinal prefect Joseph Ratzinger had just told Scicluna, his promoter of justice, to pull from the congregation's shelves all of the trials still on the waiting list and in danger of never being processed. The order was: "Every case must take its proper course."

May 19, 2005

WATERBURY-- After fifty-one years, a local Catholic school in Waterbury is shutting it's doors.

Generations of children have come to Saint Lucy's, and parents say this is a sad day for a place that always welcomed kids.

The archdiocese says one of the big reasons why the school is closing is because the population is aging. They say the number of baptisms has fallen 77 percent over the last ten years.

According to the Department of Health, the number of births in Waterbury has dropped by half over the same period. Parents are saying the 22 hundred dollar a year tuition and the priest sex abuse scandals did not help either.

Of the many shocking stories to emerge from the Orange diocese’s recently released personnel files, one fact is likely to resonate around the world: The pope knew that Catholic priests were accused of molesting children as early as 1987--and apparently did nothing to stop the scandal.

That disturbing revelation is included in the papers of Father Andrew Christian Andersen. His file is included in the thousands of pages of documents released May 17 as part of the record-breaking $100 million settlement reached between the Orange diocese and its victims. Andersen pleaded guilty in 1986 to 26 counts of molesting four boys while working at St. Bonaventure in Huntington Beach.

One item in his file is an August 10, 1987, note to Orange diocesan officials from Monsignor Oscar Rizzato, then Secretariat of State for the Vatican. The Secretariat of State, as the Vatican’s website describes it, is the arm of the Holy See’s bureaucracy "which works most closely with the Supreme Pontiff in the exercise of his universal mission."

Rizzato’s letter is brief: just an acknowledgement that the Vatican had received and was forwarding to Orange two letters from a non-Catholic outraged at the Orange diocese’s handling of the Andersen case. As previously reported in the Weekly (see "Good Cop, Bad Church," Feb. 20, 2004), church officials stymied Huntington Beach police detectives who wanted to interview Andersen about the molestation claims.

The man, whose name has been redacted, said he was writing John Paul II "out of desperation and heartache." His letter describes the domestic havoc unleashed after a deacon abused his brother during the 1970s. The man also expressed disappointment that many St. Bonaventure parishioners and church leaders continued to support Andersen--after he admitted to the molestation charges, even after officials sent him to the Paracletes facilities in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, a remote counseling center for the church’s child-molesting priests.

PONCHATOULA -- Within the walls of Hosanna Church in this southeastern Louisiana town, children, dogs and cats were sexually abused by a minister and his "cult-like" group of members, authorities alleged.

So far, four people -- including a sheriff's deputy -- have been jailed and authorities say as many as a dozen adults may have been involved in victimizing as many as 24 children, ranging in age from infants to teens.

The case broke when church pastor Louis Lamonica walked into the sheriff's office Monday and allegedly started talking about the crimes and his involvement and giving the names of others.

"He said he was educating the children in sexual exploits and how to have sex," said Livingston Parish sheriff's Detective Stan Carpenter. "We didn't know how to take it. The man just came in off the street."

Lamonica, 45, was arrested and booked on two counts of aggravated rape and one count of crime against nature.

“My work is always about when an institution is challenged, when philosophies and ideas clash,” explained journalist and author David France during a breakfast interview earlier this week at an East Village coffee shop near his home.

That perspective offers one rubric for describing the sexual abuse crisis that has rocked the American Roman Catholic Church over the past five years, but it merely hints at the scope of that tragedy inflicted upon thousands of victims or at the vitality and dedication that France brought to reporting the story in “Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal.” (Random House, 2004)

The book has become the basis of a Showtime original film premiering this Saturday that stars Ted Danson, Christopher Plummer, Brian Dennehy and Ellen Burstyn.

In two hours and 10 minutes, the film captures some of the greatest strengths of France’s nearly 600-page narrative—its heartrending drama and its commitment to tell a complex, rather than simple story. Cardinal Bernard Law, Boston’s former archbishop, whose haughtiness and then despair is played by Plummer, is a remote autocrat shockingly aloof to the suffering of his flock and to the damage wrought by his overlooking of crimes. Law is forced to sit face-to-face with enraged working-class men who were victimized as children who refuse to address him as “father” never mind “your eminence.”

ST. LOUIS - A Roman Catholic priest who has opted to stay imprisoned while authorities challenge a court's tossing out of his convictions of sexual misconduct involving boys has been formally dismissed from the clergy, the Archdiocese of St. Louis announced Thursday.

Former Archbishop Justin Rigali initiated the often-lengthy laicization proceedings against James Beine in October 2003 "for the welfare of all children and for the welfare of the Church," the archdiocese said in a statement.

Beine, 63, was suspended from the priesthood in 1977 over allegations of sexual abuse, and in the mid-1990s St. Louis' archdiocese paid $110,000 to settle two lawsuits that alleged Beine sexually abused boys more than three decades earlier.

"James Beine has credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against him dating back 30 years," the archdiocese said.

Earlier this month, Beine was ordered freed on appeal bond by the Missouri Supreme Court, 10 days after it threw out convictions on charges that he exposed himself to boys in a restroom in a St. Louis grade school, where he worked as a counselor.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton and lawyers for a victim of abuse by a former priest have agreed to settle a pending civil claim for $3 million, an attorney said Thursday.

The unidentified victim accused the diocese of failing to protect him from a known molester, Oliver O'Grady, who served as a priest at St. Anne's in Lodi in the 1970s. The diocese has already paid more than $10 million for claims involving O'Grady.

A statement from Stockton Bishop Stephen Blaire said the diocese was pleased to "bring this matter to closure," and it looked forward to continuing "to reach fair and just resolutions for the victims of childhood sexual abuse."

The agreement was reached late Wednesday, according to plaintiff's lawyer John Manly. However, the victim did not give up his right to sue O'Grady as an individual. A trial was expected to begin this summer, Manly said.

"It's very clear that there were many priests, like Father O'Grady, who were serial pedophiles who spent as much time in ministry as they did hurting kids," Manly said. "My client's abuse is horrific and without his courage to come out of the shadows, none of this would have been possible."

By Bob Heye
and KATU Web Staff
PORTLAND, Ore. - A top executive with Portland's Goodwill Industry resigned suddenly on Thursday, just as news of admitted sexual abuse dating back to his days as a priest was revealed.

Jim Worsley, who was Director of Transitional Services at Goodwill, resigned shortly after his employer learned of his admission.

The case dates back 30 years to Worsley's time as a Catholic priest in Boise, Idaho.

"He acknowledged that there had been an allegation stemming from his tenure as a Catholic priest and he believed it would be in the best interest of our organization if he submitted his resignation," said Bob Barsocchini with Goodwill Industries of the Columbia-Willamette.

In the mid-1970s, Worsley was then Father Jim Worsley, a Catholic priest in Boise, Idaho.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- Leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange scripted public statements to hide sexual misconduct involving a priest and a choir teacher, according to a newspaper account of sealed documents that were accidentally released.

The documents reveal the role of church officials in crafting statements to parishioners when the priest and teacher were forced to leave the diocese after acknowledging the misconduct, The Orange County Register reported Thursday.

Editor Ken Brusic said The Register decided to publish information from the documents -- over the objections of the diocese and the plaintiff's attorney who inadvertently released the files -- because clergy child abuse is a "matter of compelling public interest."

"We obtained the documents legally, and found they contained new and important information," Brusic said in a note accompanying the story.

The material published by the paper includes information on the Rev. John E. Ruhl and Thomas Hodgman, a former teacher at the diocese's Mater Dei High School. Hodgman has publicly claimed he is innocent; Ruhl has refused to comment.

CONCORD — The Executive Council yesterday approved a contract to perform long-stalled audits of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

Annual audits are part of a 2002 agreement between the attorney general and the diocese to avoid criminal prosecution under the state's child endangerment statutes.

Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said the audit is needed to ensure the church has a policy in place that protects children. "This is a very important matter," she told the council.

The extent of the four annual audits and who would pay for them was litigated in Hillsborough County Superior Court. In March, Judge Carol A. Conboy ruled the state and the diocese should split the cost of the audits.

She also ruled the state could evaluate the effectiveness of the diocese's child protection policies without threatening the church's First Amendment or due process rights.

As expected, many of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange's once- secret personnel files were released on Tuesday, and the facts inside the files prove what church critics have long argued: Church leaders knew about priests who had molested and raped children, yet they continued to let them serve as priests where they could continue to prey on the youngest, most vulnerable members of the community.

Orange Bishop Tod Brown at a Tuesday news conference called the documents "painful testimony" and earlier responses by the diocese "inadequate and failed."

Even when the diocese had to face up to its actions and inaction, officials there downplayed what they knew. "The files show that diocesan officials knew that at least three priests they accepted to work in Orange County had previously been in trouble for sexual abuse of children in other dioceses," reported the Register.

For instance, officials had said they knew the Rev. Siegfried Widera, who came to Orange County in 1976, had a "moral problem with a boy," "[b]ut the records released on Tuesday show, for the first time, that church leaders knew much more than that." The Rev. Widera was accused of abusing boys in Milwaukee and was even convicted of child molestation, yet the diocese misled the public.

The scandal isn't just something from the distant past, the records also show.

MENDHAM TWP – A former township man who has become a leading figure in the fight to stop sexual abuse by clergy members is featured in an award-winning documentary to be shown tonight.

The former township man, Mark Seranno, 41, was sexually assaulted as a nine-year-old child by James Hanley, the former pastor at St. Joseph Church in Mendham who has since surrendered his clerical collar.

Serrano now lives in Virginia and will be featured in the documentary entitled “Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-up in the Catholic Church,” which will premiere at 10 p.m., today, Thursday, on Showtime Network.

The 56-minute documentary examines the priest’s sexual abuse scandal and the cover-up of the abuse by clergy.

It is a companion program to Showtime’s original picture, “Our Father,” starring Christopher Plummer and Ted Danson.

Idaho Catholic Bishop Michael P. Driscoll was one of several high ranking church officials who brought a priest with a complaint of sexual misconduct into a southern California diocese and moved another priest when a complaint of sexual misconduct arose, according to documents made public Tuesday.

Driscoll served as chancellor in the Orange Diocese between 1976 and 1987 and he was responsible for clergy personnel matters. He was named the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise in 1999.

In 2002 as the priest scandal exploded nationwide, Driscoll apologized for mistakes in handling priest sexual misconduct matters. He issued a second apology earlier this month documents were about to be released.

"I ... apologize to the victims who were harmed by priests in the Diocese of Orange and for my role in these cases," Driscoll wrote in a prepared statement before the documents were released. "I am ashamed that this happened. The focus at the time was to provide help to priests so they could continue in their vocations. I know know that our priorities were horribly misplaced."

A rare United Methodist church trial scheduled to begin today was averted after a Jeffersonville minister and the woman who accused him of sexual harassment reached an agreement that resulted in the charges being withdrawn.

The agreement means the Rev. Larry Martin, pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church in Jeffersonville, is eligible to return to the ministry. If he had been found guilty at a public trial, Martin could have been defrocked.

Martin could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But the Rev. Mark Dicken, pastor of Newburgh United Methodist Church and a former attorney who was to defend Martin at the trial, said the agreement was the result of talks that had been going on for months.

"We're all very happy that we are able to resolve this in a mutually agreed manner within the church. That's always a good thing," Dicken said. "The church was able to take care of its own business."

Methodist officials said they have no record of a church trial ever having been conducted in Indiana, where Methodists have more than 200 years of history.

The Toledo Catholic Diocese this week warned its school principals not to recommend a tutoring service in their school newsletters.

The problem is not the former teacher who offers the tutoring.

It's her companionship with former priest Chet Warren, who has been accused of sexually assaulting children. Among his accusers are Teresa Bombrys, to whom Bishop Leonard Blair publicly apologized this year for Mr. Warren's "grievously sinful and criminal" acts, and Barbara Blaine, founder of the national Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

The women said they were abused by Mr. Warren when he was assigned to St. Pius X Church in West Toledo.

"The concern is that we're aware of the fact [the teacher is] either living with, or quite often has someone we know is a child molester, on the premises when she's tutoring children," said Carolyn Schmidbauer, the diocese's assistant superintendant for school services.

By TONY SAAVEDRA, RACHANEE SRISAVASDI and CHRIS KNAP
The Orange County Register

Former Bishop Norman McFarland and other Catholic leaders scripted plans to cover up admitted sexual abuse that led to the resignations of a Placentia pastor and a Mater Dei High School teacher, according to sealed personnel files that are part of a $100 million settlement by the diocese.

For the first time, documents reveal that the Rev. John E. Ruhl and school choir director Thomas Hodgman confessed their misconduct to church officials more than a decade ago. Hodgman for years has publicly claimed innocence, while Ruhl has refused to comment.

In both cases, records show, the church removed the men once they received a public complaint but orchestrated carefully worded plans to hide why they had been dismissed. Both were said to have resigned for personal reasons.

A different story emerges from sealed documents inadvertently given to The Orange County Register, documents that were mixed in with others approved for release by the court. The Register is publishing these papers to give a fuller picture of how the church handled those accused of molestation. "These documents have existed for how long?" said Claudia Vercelloti, head of the Toledo chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Hodgman now teaches at Adrian College in Michigan, near Toledo.

"They have been hiding these records, when they knew what was going on," she said. "They turned a child molester out on another state."

WILKES-BARRE -- A diocesan priest was sentenced to five years probation Wednesday after admitting to sexually assaulting a teenage boy while serving at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea.

Albert M. Liberatore Jr., 41, Scranton, pleaded guilty to three counts each of indecent assault and corruption of minors, and one count each of endangering the welfare of children and furnishing alcohol to minors.

Prosecutors said no sentencing deal was made with Mr. Liberatore's lawyers, Joseph Cosgrove and Larry Moran.

First Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll said sentencing was at the discretion of Luzerne County President Judge Michael Conahan and that criminal offenses did not meet the criteria of the state's Megan's Law.

District Attorney David W. Lupas said the victim, now 20, was satisfied with Mr. Liberatore's guilty plea.

A former Roman Catholic priest from St. Paul was convicted Thursday of sexual misconduct and theft involving a former church employee and parishioner.

After a weeklong trial and a day of deliberations, a Hennepin County jury found John Joseph Bussmann, 51, guilty of two felony counts of theft, one count of sexual misconduct and one count of indecent exposure.

Bussmann also is charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct involving two other female parishioners. Those cases are scheduled to go to trial in July.

All of the incidents reportedly involve women Bussmann counseled at St. Walburga in Fletcher, Minn., and St. Marin in Rogers, Minn. The parishes later merged to form Mary Queen of Peace in Rogers.

Bussmann, who was ordained in 1980, was removed as a priest in March 2003.

Megan's Laws -- which put convicted sex offenders on public registers, so that parents can know if a neighbor has a record -- have become popular. Child abuse reporting statutes that mandate that certain professionals contact the state with knowledge of child abuse have also been passed.

And of course - in the most high-profile development - suits against clergy and religious institutions for childhood sexual abuse have been filed, and their filing has sent shock waves through the Catholic Church and (as I will discuss below) other religious institutions.

Even the press - which was unforgivably lax in covering this issue -- is starting to cover children's issues as though they are an important part of public policy.

What are the reasons for this trend? One is that experience has shown that pedophiles are incurable. It is a sexual predisposition, not a treatable psychological condition.

Another is that society has come to recognize that children have a great deal of trouble telling others about their victimization, and that, later in life, they suffer serious ill-effects from abuse. The victim pays for life, and society pays in lost capacities and contributions.

By NICK MADIGAN
Published: May 19, 2005
LOS ANGELES, May 18 - Thousands of pages of confidential church documents detailing sexual abuses by priests in Orange County, Calif., were released this week, exposing the extent to which clergy members, one of them now a bishop elsewhere, concealed accusations of abuse.

In the documents, unveiled Tuesday under a court order after a $100 million settlement of charges involving 90 accusers, senior officials of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County were shown to have routinely moved priests and church employees accused of sexual misconduct from parish to parish, usually without warning anyone of the extent of the accusations against them and often providing glowing reports of their abilities. At the same time, the documents show, families that complained of certain priests' behavior toward their children were often ignored or told lies.

In one case, the Rev. Eleuterio Ramos, who admitted to the police in 2003 that he had molested at least 25 boys, including involvement in the gang-rape of a boy in a San Diego hotel room in 1984, was transferred in 1985 to a parish in Tijuana, Mexico, where the Orange County Diocese continued to send him a monthly paycheck and pay his car expenses. The Tijuana Diocese was not informed of the full extent of the priest's abuses, according to the documents. Father Ramos died last year.

Against objections from church officials, Judge Peter D. Lichtman of Los Angeles Superior Court ordered the Orange County Diocese, which has more than a million parishioners, to release personnel files, letters between church leaders and psychological reports of priests, although the diocese, citing privacy concerns, succeeded in withholding parts of some priests' files. Lawyers for some plaintiffs said they would appeal.

If your heart hasn't already been broken by the priest sex abuse scandal, then Showtime's strong film ``Our Fathers'' will finish the job.

Based on Newsweek editor David France's book ``Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal,'' the two-hour film, airing Saturday at 8 p.m., tells the now well-known story of the cover-up of predatory Catholic priests shuffled from parish to parish in the Boston diocese, leaving scores of damaged children in their wake.

Any tragedy is tough to turn into ``entertainment,'' but this one is particularly difficult - especially for local viewers.

Fortunately, director Dan Curtis and a strong cast manage to avoid playing this as a seedy, exploitative movie of the week. (Curtis did similarly sober work during the Holocaust portion of his miniseries ``War and Remembrance.'')

Much as the Hub-centered ``A Civil Action'' did, ``Our Fathers'' uses as its entry point a lawyer who fought on behalf of the victims, in this case, Mitchell Garabedian (Ted Danson). (Unlike ``Action,'' the Showtime film was shot in Canada.)

A Greek Orthodox priest and retired Houston school district official has been defrocked by church leaders after an investigation into sexual abuse allegations stemming from incidents in the 1970s in Ohio.

Gabriel Barrow, who was suspended from duties at St. John the Theologian Church in Webster last year, was permanently removed from the priesthood, said Nikki Stephanopoulos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

Calls to Barrow and St. John the Theologian were not returned.

Barrow also worked as an instructional supervisor in the northeast office of the Houston Independent School District until he retired in August, said spokesman Terry Abbott.

He started at HISD in 1979 as a history teacher at Barbara Jordan High School.

The second-ranking priest in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport — on leave pending the resolution of a civil lawsuit alleging that he sexually abused a minor in the 1970s — wants to continue working for the diocese now that the lawsuit has been settled, his attorney said.

Monsignor Drake Shafer, the diocese’s vicar general, never has done anything but deny the allegation by a West Burlington, Iowa, man identified in court records only as “John Doe,” the only allegation in his 30 years as a priest, attorney Peter Fieweger said Tuesday.

“He is going to do everything in his power to get back into his full priestly functions,” Fieweger said the day after he received paperwork that the case is officially dismissed.

The diocese said its Review Board will look at the allegation against Shafer when it receives final word on the lawsuit’s resolution.

A former Roman Catholic priest admitted in Luzerne County Court on Wednesday to sexually assaulting a teenage boy while stationed at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea.

Albert M. Liberatore Jr., 41, Scranton, was sentenced to five-years' probation by President Judge Michael Conahan after pleading guilty to three counts each of indecent assault and corruption of minors, and one count each of endangering the welfare of children and furnishing alcohol to minors.

Prosecutors emphasized that no deal was made with Liberatore's lawyers, Joseph Cosgrove and Larry Moran, on sentencing.

First Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll said that sentencing was at the discretion of Judge Conahan and that the criminal offenses did not meet the criteria of the state's Megan's Law.

"This was not a plea agreement; he pleaded guilty to all the offenses levied against him," Musto Carroll said.

District Attorney David W. Lupas said the victim, now 20 years old, was satisfied with Liberatore's guilty plea.

ALBANY - Allegations of sexual abuse were leveled Wednesday against a priest from Holy Cross Church who also spent nearly 20 years at Sacred Heart Church in Watervliet.

Thomas Clements III, 44, of Albany, claims that Rev. Daniel J. Maher raped him twice in the early 1970s during weekend trips to a Saratoga Lake camp.
Clements was 12 years old when the alleged incidents took place, and said he first met Maher when he was an altar boy at St. Frances de Sales church in West Albany, where Maher spent 10 years as a priest before moving to Sacred Heart in 1974.
Clements' attorney, John Aretakis, filed a $2 million lawsuit against the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese in state Supreme Court in Saratoga County this week.
Clements, an Albany native, said the media attention surrounding clergy sex abuse cases over the past few years reignited his pain.

BY ANGELA BONAVOGLIA
Angela Bonavoglia is the author of "Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church."

May 19, 2005

There is a new face of Catholic ministry in the United States, and it is female. With the crushing shortage of Catholic priests worldwide, maintaining the commitment of Catholic women to ministry is one of the most important challenges facing the new pope.

More than 80 percent of the nearly 30,000 Catholics in lay paid parish ministry in the United States are female. They pastor priestless parishes. They serve as directors of religious education and family ministers. Seventy percent of the members of theAbuse Tracker Association of Catholic Chaplains are women, too; they work in hospitals, hospices, universities and prisons. ...

To keep Catholic ministry alive, Benedict XVI must respond to women's concerns. Recognizing the profound disagreement among leading theologians about the church's ban on women's ordination to the priesthood, he could respectfully resist the temptation to declare that ban an infallible teaching, which no previous pope did. He could at least ordain women deacons. He could lead an effort to guarantee just wages and working conditions for women in ministry. He could ensure sexual safety for Catholic women and their children by addressing the crisis of priest sexual abuse and exploitation worldwide.

Alleged victims of pedophile priests celebrated when secret files showing Diocese of Orange officials had covered up for abusive priests were released Tuesday. But their triumph came at a cost.

Though Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman allowed lawyers for accusers to open 15 files to the public, the judge had said he was "powerless" to order the release of information on eight accused priests and educators who objected to the diocese disclosing their secrets.

The ruling could mean that hotly contested files — including the ones Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles has been fighting to conceal for two years — will remain sealed forever unless alleged victims mount costly legal battles.

"It's a triumph for the predators and those who protect them," said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minn., lawyer who specializes in clergy sex-abuse cases.

The Los Angeles accusers had been trying to negotiate an out-of-court settlement just like the Orange Diocese's record $100-million pact — one that would include money and full disclosure of church files, they said.

But after eight priests and educators objected that their privacy rights would be violated if the information got out, Lichtman said he couldn't order the release because he had no jurisdiction over the settled cases.

As the faithful try to absorb painful revelations from newly released church documents about Orange County priests who sexually abused children, some national Roman Catholic leaders are renewing pleas that all U.S. bishops, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, make public the files of other priests accused in the national scandal.

"What really concerns me is, instead of really disclosing what has taken place and having the church be transparent … here is this continuing fight to protect against disclosure, and in the end it hurts the church that much more," said Leon Panetta, who was White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton and later served on the U.S. bishops' national review board that investigated sexual abuse by clergy.

"There wasn't just one Cardinal [Bernard] Law in this country," added Panetta, referring to the Boston prelate who resigned in 2002 after documents showed that he had protected serial molesters. "There were others doing the same thing — shifting around people and ignoring the threat they posed."

Justice Anne M. Burke of the Illinois Appellate Court, who served on the same bishops' review board, also called for the release of such files nationwide. "I urge them not to fight this anymore," she said. "Release the documents, say you're sorry, and move forward so this will never happen again."

More than 10,000 documents about Orange County cases were made public Tuesday as part of a $100-million settlement reached in December with 90 alleged victims. The files from accused priests show that top diocesan officials in Orange County kept known molesters in churches with no warning to parishioners, ignored allegations of sexual abuse and failed to report the criminal acts to police.

The scandalous epidemic of priests sexually molesting children that came to light in Boston in 2002 may seem like old news to a public that has moved on to other headlines such as Michael Jackson's trial.

But the subject always will be raw for the survivors violated by such trusted figures, the relatives who cope with their emotional baggage, and the teachers and bosses of those survivors who cannot earn their trust.

Showtime's dramatization of the most notorious cases, "Our Fathers," debuts Saturday as recent headlines serve as reminders of the scope of the problem. Last week, a videotaped deposition by former Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady surfaced, showing him describing his seduction technique that led to multiple assaults on young children in Stockton while Cardinal Roger Mahony was the bishop there. And voluminous files released this week related to the $100 million settlement between the Orange Diocese and 90 plaintiffs shows bishops there also covered up for and transferred known pedophile priests for more than two decades.

May 18, 2005

LOS ANGELES - Thousands of pages of personnel files released as part of a clergy abuse settlement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange reveal that two officials who covered up for molester priests years ago remain in top positions within the church.

The files, released Tuesday, show that Auxiliary Bishop Michael P. Driscoll and Msgr. John Urell knew of repeated allegations of sexual misconduct against Orange County priests yet did little to protect parishioners or prevent future abuse.

Driscoll is now the bishop of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho. Urell, who was a top diocesan official at the time, is now pastor of St. Norbert Church in Orange.

Neither man returned calls for comment from The Associated Press.

Driscoll, 65, posted a lengthy apology on the diocese's Web site earlier this month in anticipation of the files' release.

"At this time I once again want to apologize to the victims who were harmed by priests in the Diocese of Orange and for my role in these cases," Driscoll wrote. "I am ashamed that this happened."

One was a popular longtime parishioner. The other was a clown with a criminal record, a falsified resumé – and a recommendation from a deacon.

For most of the 1990s, they worked at St. Pius X Catholic Church's child care center in Far East Dallas. Each was the target of complaints about his behavior with little girls. Each turned out to be a child molester and is now in prison.

Church officials blame everything on the child care workers, saying in court filings that the men managed to deceive everyone around them. The officials declined several requests to be interviewed about the cases and didn't respond to written questions.

The lawsuits come at a difficult time for diocesan leaders. They face a broader criminal investigation of how they handle sexual misconduct allegations. They are still trying to recover from the past clergy cases, which cost them nearly $40 million in payments to victims. And a priest who was a leading supporter of Bishop Charles Grahmann's management of those cases was recently arrested on child pornography charges.

BELFAST, May 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The discovery of a hidden camera in a boys changeroom in a prestigious Catholic school in Northern Ireland has prompted the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition (IATC) to push police to launch an investigation. The Abbey Christian Brothers School in Newry explained that the camera was installed to catch a theif. However that trite explanation without investigation raised the ire of parents including a politician whose son is a student at the school.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) launched an investigation after pressure from the IATC.

LifeSiteNews.com spoke with IATC Director Gregory Carlin about the incident and related issues. While he acknowleged that he, and not the Catholic hierarchy pressed for a police investigation, he said that it was not clear that the hierarchy were aware of the situation and added, "The church's position on these matters is unequivocal."

Speaking of the criticism the secret filming receeived, Carlin said, "It has been condemned by politicians and sexual abuse organizations. Before a (hidden) camera can be installed in a school, a qualifying assessment has to take place in order to ensure compliance with three statutes, the Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The filming of children in a changing room is completely unacceptable."

Carlin has also been involved in advising Catholic schools about homosexual teachers in roles as supervisors in change rooms. Asked about this, Carlin replied, "We also advise the Catholic Church not to have male teachers viewing 14 year old girls in dressing rooms. The principle is entirely the same, it is not in the least controversial. It is not a question of picking on anybody, we have consulted with gay rights organizations. The general legal consensus is that the prohibition that legitimately precludes opposite gender supervision in changing rooms can sensibly be related to gender and orientation. The potential for prurient viewing is a perfectly legitimate legal exception."

The revelation of widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic Church raises too many disturbing questions and presents too many serious issues for any film, or even a miniseries, to thoroughly explore. And while there is widespread agreement that this abuse by trusted and admired religious leaders was despicable, opinions differ on why it happened, what should be done about it and how the victims should be compensated. Even the victims don't all agree on answers to these questions.

In trying to get a filmic handle on the situation, Showtime based "Our Fathers" on a meticulously researched account of how the scandal unraveled in Boston, as told in David France's best-seller "Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal." France worked alongside teleplay writer Thomas Michael Donnelly, passing along documents and interviews as the book was being written. Perhaps, as a result, "Our Fathers" sacrifices Hollywood dramatic polish in favor of a factually pristine presentation of events and personalities.

This is, among other things, a classic David-vs.-Goliath story as well as a tale of an insidious bureaucracy as corrupt as the greediest energy manipulators or defense subcontractors. Actually, worse, because it robbed its victims of their faith and souls. But rather than speechify about this grand evil, Donnelly lets it unfold bit by bit, giving us perspectives from a growing number of victims as well as church leaders, who quickly circle the wagons and go into cover-up mode.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A suspended Roman Catholic clergyman was sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to sexually molesting an altar boy while he was a parish priest in the Diocese of Scranton.

The Rev. Albert M. Liberatore Jr., 41, of Scranton, was charged last year after the victim, now 20, told police that he became involved with the priest when he was an eighth-grade altar boy at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea.

Investigators said that the man described meeting Liberatore regularly for dinners, sleeping twice a week in his residence at the rectory and going with him on trips to New York City, where he said Liberatore took him to gay bars and they had sexual contact at hotels.

Liberatore pleaded guilty Wednesday in Luzerne County Court to indecent assault, corruption of minors, furnishing alcohol to a minor and child endangerment.

A Tangipahoa Parish deputy and a former pastor of a Northshore church are under arrest on rape charges amid an investigation into an alleged child sex abuse ring.

The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office said it arrested Deputy Christopher Blair Labat, 24, of Hammond on one count of aggravated rape Tuesday.

A Sheriff’s Office spokesman says the arrest came in conjunction with the arrest of Louis Lamonica, the former pastor of Hosana Church, by Livingston Parish deputies on Monday. Lamonica was charged with two counts of aggravated rape and one charge of crime against nature.

According to juvenile investigator Reginald Bryant, the investigation that led to the arrests began with a phone call form the mother of a juvenile in Columbus, Ohio about five weeks ago.

Bryant said the mother told deputies that she fled Louisiana in fear for her child, and that counseling sessions had raised the allegations of sexual abuse.

PONCHATOULA, La. -- Sheriff's deputies in Louisiana made a third arrest Wednesday in the ongoing investigation of a case involving allegations of sexual abuse of children and animals at a Ponchatoula, La., church.

Austin Aaron Bernard III, 36, was arrested on a charge of aggravated rape of a child under the age of 13. Police said Bernard confessed to detectives that he had sex with a young girl in November 2002 and admitted to knowing about sexual acts involving children and a dog that occurred at Hosanna Church.

Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputy Christopher Blair Labat, 24, was booked Tuesday on one count of aggravated rape and one count of crime against nature.

On Monday, Louis Lamonica, 45, the former pastor of Hosanna Church, was booked with two counts of aggravated rape and one count of crime against nature after he walked in to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office and said he could implicate others in a situation at the church that reportedly occurred two years ago.

A priest admitted Wednesday he sexually assaulted a teenage boy. Now prosecutors are blasting him for abusing his position as a man of God and violating the boy's trust.

Father Albert Libertore told a judge he molested a teenager several times over three years. The victim, now 20, came forward last year, telling of the abuse in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties.

Father Libertore admitted he crossed the line in his relationship with that teenager. The punishment for that abuse is no jail time but a sentence of five years probation.

The priest, who served in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties is now considered a child molester. Court papers say the offenses began six years ago at Sacred Heart parish in Duryea, where Libertore met the then 14 year old altar boy and took the relationship too far.

The two slept in the same bed. The priest touched the boy and invited him to parties at the rectory where adults had gay sex. He supplied his victim with alcohol, expensive gifts and trips. The abuse continued at the University of Scranton, where Libertore taught, while the victim was a college student.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Roman Catholic Church authorities in a Southern California diocese shuffled pedophile priests between parishes for two decades, according to personnel files released by a judge.

In what has become a familiar tale of cover-ups by the U.S. Catholic Church, the files of 15 priests and teachers painted a picture of secrecy and stonewalling over what mushroomed into a damaging nationwide priestly sex abuse scandal.

The files were ordered released by a Los Angeles judge late on Tuesday as part of a $100 million settlement -- one of the largest since the scandal broke in Boston in 2002 -- reached in January between the diocese of Orange and 90 alleged victims of molestation.

Five of the priests are dead. The 10 other priests and teachers raised no objection to the ruling.

Raymond Boucher, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the files revealed how the Orange diocese "helped to take a priest who had engaged in criminal conduct and move that priest from church to church, from diocese to diocese, and as a result, a significant number of lives have been destroyed."

THE Vatican document Crimen Sollicitationis, referred to by Patrick Geaney (Irish Examiner letters, April 27 and May 11), prompted my resignation from the priesthood in 1984.

At the time my American bishop (since deceased) refused to agree with my decision to refer to the local sheriff a serious allegation of clerical sex abuse which was brought to my attention by the then 10-year-old victim’s parents.

During the course of discussions with my bishop I sought his approval urgently to hand the complete file over to the civil authorities, including the report of the local tribunal which had completed its investigation into the allegations - but he refused.

By way of support for his decision, the bishop went to his filing cabinet, withdrew a copy of Crimen Sollicitationis and referred me to clause 11 in the document, which states:

“What is treated in these cases has to have a greater degree of care and observance so that those same matters be pursued in a most secretive way... they are to be restrained by a perpetual silence (Instruction of the Holy Office, February 20, 1867), each and everyone pertaining to the tribunal, in any way or admitted to knowledge of the matter, because of their office, is to observe the strictest secret, which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office, in all matters and with all persons, under the penalty of excommunication.”

BILLERICA -- No criminal charges will be filed against the Rev. Michael Randone, who was fired as chaplain of Central Catholic High School.

The Essex County district attorney's office found no reason to charge the former Billerica priest.

Randone, 36, was fired from his alma mater in March after he was accused of sending inappropriate online messages to students from a personal computer. The communication after school hours constituted a violation
of school policy, but there was also some question as to whether the messages were sexual in nature.

At the time he was fired, officials at the private school in Lawrence said Randone denied sending any inappropriate e-mail.

“The e-mails were investigated, but no charges will be filed,” Essex County District Attorney spokesman Steve O'Connell said. “There was nothing in those e-mails that rose to a criminal level.”

WORCESTER— A Maine activist yesterday called on Bishop Richard Malone to explain why the Rev. Michael J. Sheridan was dismissed from the Portland Diocese and sent back to Worcester this weekend after the priest was allegedly involved in an inappropriate incident with a female inmate at a northern Maine jail.

The Portland Diocese declined to discuss details, other than to say it was a personnel matter. Michael Povich, district attorney for Washington and Hancock counties, also declined to discuss specifics on Monday, but indicated it was an interaction between the priest and a woman, part of which was caught on videotape by jail staff. He said no criminal conduct had occurred. Bishop Malone of Portland said the priest was involved in prison ministry.

Paul Kendrick of Cumberland, Maine, a founder of the Maine Voice of the Faithful Chapter and member of the St. Ignatius Voice of the Faithful affiliate in Portland, said the bishop not only needs to give details of what happened at the Washington County jail, but needs to go into the parishes served by Rev. Sheridan to see if there are people who might be victims.

Michael Swett, spokesman for Maine VOTF, said the organization was pleased that Bishop Malone took the actions that he did in removing Rev. Sheridan immediately, and hopes that the Worcester bishop will do the same. Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester said Monday that Rev. Sheridan no longer can serve as a priest in Worcester or elsewhere.

Mr. Kendrick said he understood that Rev. Sheridan, in addition to serving in parishes in Machias and Cherryfield, was involved in prison ministry at the jail. He said that if the priest was sexually involved with a female inmate this would be “sexual exploitation of women.” Exploitation of women remains “a major issue” in the Catholic Church, Mr. Kendrick said.

Many people do not believe consensual sex between adults should be construed as exploitation, he said, but the relationship would be inappropriate if he was in prison ministry and this woman was an inmate, Mr. Kendrick said.

In a letter to parishioners of Holy Name in Machias and St. Michael’s Mission, Cherryfield, Bishop Malone said Rev. Sheridan had planned to return to Worcester next month, but the bishop learned on May 7 that he had violated the diocesan ethics code. The Portland Diocese covers all of Maine.

The diocese opened an investigation May 9, “and by Thursday I was convinced that serious violations of the code” did occur, Bishop Malone said. He met with Rev. Sheridan and told him he no longer could function as a priest in Maine “and that he should return to his own diocese immediately,” he said. He told parishioners that the Worcester Diocese was informed of his actions. Bishop McManus said he also removed Rev. Sheridan’s permission to function as a priest in Worcester or elsewhere and was awaiting a full report from the Portland Diocese.

Rev. Sheridan, 56, left Worcester for northern Maine about 10 years ago. He never became a priest of the Maine diocese, although he ministered there with permission of the Maine bishop. Ordained in Worcester in 1975, he remained a priest of the Worcester Diocese. The diocesan directory lists 16 priests of the Worcester Diocese who are ministering elsewhere, in locations ranging from Peru to the Vatican, and a number of places within the United States and the armed services.

“Let me state very clearly, these violations do not involve any misconduct with minors. It is a personnel matter involving the church’s own ethical standards and is being dealt with in an appropriate manner,” Bishop Malone said.

The bishop during the weekend sent members of the diocesan crisis team into the parishes to meet with parishioners and answer questions.

Santa Rosa diocese; one plaintiff, one priest; $3.3 million "The largest settlement for a female victim of sexual abuse by a priest in this country and the third-largest for any California victim."

Fort Worth, Texas,diocese and Worcester, Mass.,diocese; one plaintiff; one priest (first of two cases against same priest); $1.4 million; one plaintiff; one priest (second case against same priest); $2.75 million. Money to come from Fort Worth Diocese.

The St. Louis School District should act to keep a former school counselor accused of indecent exposure behind bars, say members of a group representing people who have been abused by priests.

James Beine, also known as Mar James, was convicted in 2003 on charges of exposing himself to three students at a St. Louis grade school, but the Missouri Supreme Court overturned Beine's conviction. Beine, who also has been a priest in three area parishes, has chosen to remain in prison while the Missouri attorney general asks the court to reconsider the ruling.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests sent letters two weeks ago to St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and schools Superintendent Creg E. Williams imploring them to do what they can to keep Beine in jail.

FORT WORTH - Monsignor Kevin W. Vann of Illinois has been named coadjutor bishop of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese and will succeed ailing Bishop Joseph Delaney when he retires, church officials announced Tuesday.

Vann, 54, was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on May 9. Vann will begin work in the diocese after his ordination as bishop, which is expected in July. ...

But news of Vann's appointment drew criticism from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. As a canon lawyer, Vann represents the Rev. John Calicott in his request to the Vatican to be allowed to resume his ministry after allegations of child abuse.

Calicott's request that Vann represent him was "very routine," Vann said. Under the charter, priests "are supposed to get a canon lawyer," he said.

The matter is still pending at the Vatican, Vann said.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he found it troubling that someone who would represent Calicott has been elevated to bishop.

So far, the casualties of the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal have been: the grievously scarred victims of pedophilia; the communities where defrocked pedophile priests take up new addresses and careers, unannounced and unrecognized; the good men now carrying out their priesthoods under a cloud; uncounted Catholics disgusted with the church; and the dioceses hemorrhaging money for lawsuit awards.

That leaves one category of American Catholics that either could have prevented this before or repented for it since: the bishops, whose reactionary response to public outrage was a zero-tolerance policy that can snatch away in an afternoon the career of even an unfairly accused priest.

Very little has ever come out about clergy sexual abuse because a bishop voluntarily released records. But a new Web site, BishopAccountability.org, is set to publish all the records it can get relating to abuse complaints, reassignment of accused priests and other details most dioceses have refused to release. Its founders are going after the Norwich diocese.

At a meeting Sunday in Niantic the local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, lay Catholics who have been meeting since the sex-abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese, introduced the founders of the new Web site, which is seeking to post online records kept by the Diocese of Norwich.

Diocese of Orange leaders enabled the sexual abuse of Catholic children by accepting or keeping known pedophiles in parish work, by ignoring warnings about abusive priests and by misleading parishioners, a review of church records shows.

Fifteen once-sealed personnel files, made public Tuesdayas part of a record $100 million settlement of child sexual-abuse cases, provide a window into the minds of men of the cloth in Orange County from the 1960s to 1990s. A judge ruled the diocese must release other secret documents, including psychological reports and correspondence between church leaders, within a week.

The details of many of the cases have been revealed in lawsuits and previous news stories: boys sodomized by priests they trusted; a high school girl impregnated and given a sexually transmitted disease.

But other cases are new: A man who alleges he was molested for three years by a priest who later died of AIDS. That man received the highest settlement of any of the 90 victims: $3.7 million.

The files also reveal the extent to which diocesan bishops, chancellors and other church leaders routinely forgave priests for abusing children, paid for counseling, then welcomed them back to pastoral work - sometimes two or three times.

A Sugar Grove man who claims he was sexually abused in 1982 by a former priest has filed a civil suit against him and the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

The lawsuit, filed Monday by Charles Linneman, 36, alleges that Franklyn Becker, who was defrocked in December, sexually molested him in 1982.

Linneman reportedly met Becker, 67, while attending St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lyons, Wis., in 1980. According to Linneman's attorney, Jeff Anderson, Becker was transferred out of the Lyons church that same year, but the priest invited Linneman to visit him at his new Milwaukee parish, where the sexual molestation allegedly took place.

According to Kathleen Hohl, archdiocese of Milwaukee communications director, church officials have taken appropriate action to alert the public about Becker.

In December, when Becker was officially removed from the priesthood, church officials contacted Dodge County Sheriff Todd M. Nehls about Becker's history and his residence in that Wisconsin county. Hohl said it is church policy to notify local law enforcement in such circumstances.

ILLINOIS -- In one of the first American appointments made by Pope Benedict XVI, an Illinois pastor has been named bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ft. Worth.

Monsignor Kevin Vann, 54, pastor of Blessed Sacrament parish and vicar for priests in Springfield, will work alongside and ultimately succeed Bishop Joseph Delaney, 70, of Ft. Worth, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. His cancer is in remission.

"Naturally it is a big, unexpected change for me, but I trust in the providence of the Lord and that this is the place for me to be," Vann told the North Texas Catholic, the diocesan newspaper.

Vann, who has two graduate degrees in canon law, has become one of Illinois' leading judicial vicars and has participated in canonical proceedings for clergy accused of sexual abuse.

LOS ANGELES - A judge agreed Tuesday to release the files of 14 priests and one layperson from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange who were accused of sexual abuse. The files of eight other defendants were withheld.

The decision was heralded by alleged victims, who reached a record-breaking $100 million settlement with the diocese in December after nearly two years of negotiations.

As part of the agreement, the diocese agreed not to block the release of private files on the accused priests.

Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman based his decision on what he called the state's "compelling interest in protecting children from abuse." He said, however, that he would not release the files of eight priests who contested the release.

LOS ANGELES - Roman Catholic officials in Orange County knew for years of allegations of sexual misconduct against priests and lay workers but did little to warn parishioners or prevent future abuse, personnel files show.

The private personnel files of the 14 priests and one lay person were released Tuesday after Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman ruled that to do so was in the state's "compelling interest in protecting children from abuse." The files of five other priests and three lay teachers were withheld because those individuals contested the release.

The decision was heralded by the priests' accusers, who reached a record-breaking $100 million settlement with the diocese in December after nearly two years of negotiations. As part of that agreement, the diocese agreed not to block the release of private files on the accused priests and lay workers.

A victims' advocacy group has started a flier campaign against the pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Jackson.

Members of SNAP, which stands for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, were in Jackson over the weekend passing out fliers and attached copies of alleged letters and public trial documents from the ongoing civil case against the Rev. Richard Mickey.

''We consider the reinstatement of Father Mickey to be a reckless disregard for diocesan policy as well as for the judicial process'' is one of the statements in bold, black letters on the front of the flier.

Mickey was put on administrative leave last August following sexual abuse allegations that were made public. After an internal investigation by the diocese, Mickey was reinstated at St. Mary's in February.

Twin brothers Blain and Blair Chambers accuse Mickey of abusing them in 1980 when they were students at Bishop Byrne High School in Memphis, where Mickey was working as a counselor. Mickey, who was ordained as a priest in 1988, was a counselor to one of the teens and a religion instructor to the other, according to the lawsuit.

A group of victims and their supporters are lobbying for congressional hearings into clergy sexual abuse, a crime that occurs in every religion, often facilitated, they say, by laws that vary from state to state.

``If they heard what I've heard, I believe Congress would be blown away,'' said John Harris, who says he was raped when he was a 21-year-old college student by the Rev. Paul Shanley, one of the central figures in the Archdiocese of Boston's scandal.

Harris was one of a half-dozen people who met Monday with U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) to urge him to call for bipartisan hearings into the ``epidemic'' that became national news in 2001 with Boston's scandal, but is hardly unique to the Roman Catholic Church. Two former Jehovah's Witnesseses, for example, told Lynch how they were shunned when they spoke out against abuse in their own church.

Yesterday, the congressman said it was ``too early to say what the best course of action is,'' but called their cases ``compelling'' reasons for considering a national approach, such as changing the federal statute of limitations for rape.

LOS ANGELES — Personnel files released Tuesday by court order show that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange knew for years of allegations of sexual misconduct against priests and lay workers but did little to warn parishioners or prevent future abuse.

The private personnel files of the 14 priests and one lay coach were released after Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman ruled that to do so was in the state's "compelling interest in protecting children from abuse." The files of five other priests and three lay teachers were withheld because they contested the release.

The decision was heralded by the priests' accusers, who reached a record-breaking $100 million settlement with the diocese in December after nearly two years. As part of that agreement, the diocese agreed not to block the release of private files on the accused priests and lay workers.

"This was a very important and historic decision," said Ray Boucher, an attorney for the plaintiffs. He said he would appeal the judge's decision to seal the remaining eight files.

Bishop Tod D. Brown welcomed the unsealing.

The settlement "was about taking moral responsibility for sins of the past that have caused suffering and pain," Brown wrote. "Today's release follows through on my commitment to the victims and their loved ones."

LOS ANGELES - Roman Catholic officials in Orange County knew for years of allegations of sexual misconduct against priests and lay workers but did little to warn parishioners or prevent future abuse, personnel files released Tuesday show.

The private personnel files of the 14 priests and one lay person were released by court order after a judge ruled the information could help the state protect children from abuse.

The hundreds of pages suggest the diocese knew as early as 30 years ago about alleged sexual misconduct among some of its clergy.

In many cases, priests were repeatedly referred for psychological treatment and counseling before finally being barred from the priesthood. Some were not barred but were sent instead to other dioceses.

The decision to release the documents was heralded by the priests' accusers, who reached a record-breaking $100 million settlement with the Orange County diocese in December after nearly two years of negotiations. As part of that agreement, the diocese agreed not to block release of files on accused priests and lay workers.

The Rev. James Hargadon, a Roman Catholic priest who was imprisoned at the Kentucky State Reformatory for sexually abusing three boys, died Monday. He was 77.

Hargadon died at Baptist Hospital Northeast in La Grange, said Lisa Lamb, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Corrections. He had been transferred from the prison to the hospital early Sunday morning, she said, and had a terminal illness that she declined to specify.

Today would have marked one year that Hargadon had served in the prison, Lamb said. He would have been eligible for parole in November, she said.

Hargadon was sentenced in Jefferson Circuit Court last June to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to sodomizing a 14-year-old boy in 1976 in the rectory of St. Polycarp Catholic Church in the Pleasure Ridge Park area, where he was pastor at the time.

For more than two decades, officials in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange covered up for priests who molested children, shuffling predators from parish to parish and diocese to diocese, protecting them from prosecution and failing to warn parishioners of the danger, according to church documents released Tuesday.

More than 10,000 pages of letters, handwritten notes, memos and other documents detailing church actions were released from the personnel files of 15 priests and teachers as part of a court-approved $100-million settlement reached in December between the Orange Diocese and 90 alleged molestation victims. A judge ruled, however, that he was "powerless" to order the release of files on eight other priests and teachers.

According to the newly released documents, church officials dumped one serial molester in Tijuana. They welcomed a convicted child abuser from another state into their diocese, even though they knew he faced a new allegation. When he was accused once again, they sent him to a New Mexico rehabilitation center with a notation: "No one else will take you." And they offered a repeat abuser up to $19,000 to leave the priesthood quietly.

Even as they coddled abusive priests, church officials stonewalled and ostracized victims' families, the documents show.

"It is hard to believe that our spiritual leaders would knowingly sacrifice lives of innocent children … to keep up the façade and [live] a lie," a woman wrote in a 1986 letter to Diocesan Administrator John T. Steinbock, now bishop of Fresno, after learning that Andrew Christian Andersen, a Huntington Beach priest who allegedly molested her son in 1983, had gone on to sexually abuse three more boys.

"How many more innocent children does he have to molest before something is done about this sick man!" she wrote.

The pattern of deception involved two bishops of Orange — William R. Johnson, now deceased, and Norman F. McFarland, who retired in 1998 — and Auxiliary Bishop Michael P. Driscoll, now bishop of Boise. It also involved Msgr. John Urell, then a top diocesan official and now pastor of St. Norbert Church in Orange.

May 17, 2005

Since the 1990s, our examination of the sexual abuse scandal has gone through the phases from cover-up, to investigative journalism’s exposure, to the reports of national committees, to the response of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to the commentaries on the responses.

This last year the artists have come forward. On Broadway, the play “Doubt” has pitted a zealous nun against a parish priest in the early 1960s. Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River” and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bad Education” place boy-abusing priests in the dark basements of their plots.

Now prime-time cable TV, which may reach more viewers than Broadway and art films combined, gives us “Our Fathers,” based on David France’s critically admired book Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal. By “church” we mean Boston in 2002, the church of Cardinal Bernard Law.

Showtime, sensitive to critics from both the right, which might accuse it of prejudiced church-bashing, and victims’ groups quick to pound a speaker who sticks up for priests’ rights, has been careful in script, casting, photography and tone to do this right. Within the limitations of its two-hour format, it has produced a work that gives everyone who cares about the church a lot to think about.

NEW YORK - ``Our Fathers'' confronts a subject that seems all too ripe for exploitation: sexually abusive priests in the Catholic Church.

But while dramatizing the tragedy, this Showtime film avoids the pitfalls of melodrama. It focuses not on the squalid crimes, but on their disastrous effect - as well as on the courage of the victims who spoke up. ``Our Fathers'' premieres at 8 p.m. EDT Saturday.

Reflectively, somberly, the story unfolds: In early 2002, the Boston Globe exposed Father John J. Geoghan as well as Cardinal Bernard Law, who not only failed to stop years of sexual abuse by Geoghan and other Boston clergy, but tried to hide it.

Contacted initially by just a handful of victims (abused boys now grown to troubled, shame-filled adulthood), attorney Mitchell Garabedian took on the archdiocese. The church's response, even in the face of damning evidence of abuse that spanned decades, was disavowal and further cover-up.

``John Geoghan's transgressions were not the fault of a caring church,'' Law declares in a sermon in the film, ``but the aberrant act of one depraved man.''

NEW YORK - ``Our Fathers'' confronts a subject that seems all too ripe for exploitation: sexually abusive priests in the Catholic Church.

But while dramatizing the tragedy, this Showtime film avoids the pitfalls of melodrama. It focuses not on the squalid crimes, but on their disastrous effect - as well as on the courage of the victims who spoke up. ``Our Fathers'' premieres at 8 p.m. EDT Saturday.

Reflectively, somberly, the story unfolds: In early 2002, the Boston Globe exposed Father John J. Geoghan as well as Cardinal Bernard Law, who not only failed to stop years of sexual abuse by Geoghan and other Boston clergy, but tried to hide it.

Contacted initially by just a handful of victims (abused boys now grown to troubled, shame-filled adulthood), attorney Mitchell Garabedian took on the archdiocese. The church's response, even in the face of damning evidence of abuse that spanned decades, was disavowal and further cover-up.

``John Geoghan's transgressions were not the fault of a caring church,'' Law declares in a sermon in the film, ``but the aberrant act of one depraved man.''

A May 2 editorial on financial settlements from the Catholic Diocese of Tucson to victims of priests' sexual abuse contained incorrect information.

The editorial said proposed settlement amounts were inadequate based on the average amount of past settlements. The editorial gave an inaccurate figure for past settlements, which, based on figures from the diocese and attorneys, averaged less than $500,000 per victim.

The amount of future settlements is not known. The diocese has proposed a tiered settlement system ranging up to $600,000, depending on the degree of abuse. A federal bankruptcy judge will set payments.

A FORMER West Cumbrian priest now faces a total of 27 charges of indecent assault when he appears in court next month.

Father Piers Grant Ferris, 71, was at York Crown Court yesterday. He initially faced 16 charges relating to a period 30 years ago when he was a teacher at a private school near York. Eleven further charges have been added.

Fr Grant Ferris served at Workington’s Our Lady and st Michael’s Church between 1978 and 1989. He is now a monk at Ampleforth Abbey, York.

WORCESTER, Mass. — The Diocese of Worcester said a priest who was sent home from Maine last week has been stripped of his ability to minister, enforcing a decision made by Portland Bishop Richard Malone to remove the Reverend Michael J. Sheridan´s priestly authority.

Meanwhile, Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus said Monday he is awaiting a full report on Sheridan from Portland.

Sheridan, 56, was returned to Worcester after an alleged incident at a jail in Machias, Maine.

District Attorney Michael Povich of Ellsworth, Maine, told the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester in a telephone interview that he did not want to go into details of the incident, except to say it involved "inappropriate physical interaction" with a female inmate at the jail. Some of the interaction was videotaped by a camera in the jail, he said.

Movies about abused children and scandal have been a staple of television for years - all the way back to 1984 and the groundbreaking TV movie "Something About Amelia," in which Ted Danson played a seemingly normal American dad (married to Glenn Close) who sexually abused his daughter. That then-controversial (and Emmy Award-winning) movie propelled sexual abuse into the forefront of American consciousness, and grew Mr. Danson's star power. Now, after an illustrious sitcom career has dissipated into sporadic film work, Mr. Danson returns to the topic in Showtime's "Our Fathers," on the other side of the law.

And, alas, with far less dramatic results. In this overlong Showtime movie (premiering this Saturday at 8 p.m.) about the scandals involving sexually abusive priests in the Boston area, Mr. Danson plays a zealous lawyer who investigates allegations against one local religious leader and stumbles onto a scandal of mammoth proportions. Had we ever understood his character's motivation or background, we might have cared; but in the years since "Amelia" and even "Cheers," Mr. Danson has acted less with his head than he has with the hideous hairpieces he has chosen to put on it. He has evolved into a distraction, not a force, or as the focal point of what might have made a compelling, subtle drama of right and wrong. By focusing on Mr. Danson's detective work - instead of the more dramatic battle taking place within the local archdiocese - "Our Fathers" goes wide of the mark.

It's an unfortunate miss, especially when measured against the potential for powerful storytelling in the premise. Its great virtue lies in two key supporting performances: Christopher Plummer as Cardinal Bernard Law, who tried everything he could to suppress the scandal; and Brian Dennehy, who worked just as relentlessly to fan its flames. Only after an extended prologue - with prolonged and tedious scenes of middle-aged men experiencing their tortured recollections of childhood abuse, then seeking out Mr. Danson's help - do Messrs. Plummer and Dennehy even show up. Whenever they appear on screen, the movie comes to life; the energy of their conflict takes us into the murkier moral questions at the scandal's core. Do any of us really doubt the horror of child abuse by priests? Of course not. But what's even more terrifying is the notion of the church's leadership (reaching nearly all the way to the Vatican) hiding its scandals for the sake of its reputation, and putting the faith of its followers in jeopardy.

Two months after a judge dismissed objections by the Diocese of Manchester, state officials are about to begin long-delayed annual audits of the church's sexual abuse prevention policies.

The attorney general's office is close to signing a contract with KPMG, a Boston-based auditor, to review whether the church has improved the way it prevents and reports sexual abuse. The contract goes before the Executive Council for approval tomorrow.

The audits are a central piece of the landmark 2002 settlement between the state attorney general's office and the diocese. But the audits have been delayed for more than two years, as state and church officials sparred over the details.

Church officials challenged the state's proposal to review the effectiveness of its new policies. The diocese also wanted the state to pay the entire cost of the audits, estimated at $550,000 over four years. In March, Hillsborough County Superior Court Justice Carol Ann Conboy dismissed nearly all of the diocese's objections.

In the absence of an appeal by the diocese, state officials are taking Conboy's ruling as the final word on the audits.

"We intend to go forward, and it will go forward as KPMG and the state want it to," said Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker. "Time will tell whether all the diocese's problems (with the audits) are resolved."

Jane Flasch (Rochester, NY) 05/16/05 -- A man who was sexually abused by a Rochester priest as a teenager has recently been arrested and accused of possessing child pornography. There are also indications that the case may be tied to the arrest of another Rochester priest, who faces similar charges.

When Monroe County Sheriff's deputies arrested [redacted] on March 3, he was carrying a blue bag filled with floppy discs that contained images of child pornography. Police sources confirm that one picture depicted the children engaged in sex acts who appear to be 10 or 11 years old.

[redacted] has pleaded not guilty and when reached at his house in Greece, said he had no comment.

In 1997, he accused a Rochester Roman Catholic priest of sexually molesting him in the rectory of Our Lady Of Mercy. The Rev. William Lum later admitted to the crime and pleaded guilty.

Sources close to the investigation say [redacted] admitted to possessing the pornography. He also claims to have kept tabs on Lum and mentioned another priest the Rev. Michael Volino.

For at least the third time, an adult who claims he was sexually abused by a priest as a child has sued the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for fraud over its handling of the situation.

The suit against the archdiocese and former priest Franklyn Becker claims Becker, who was recently removed from the priesthood after 40 years, molested Charles Linneman, an altar boy the priest met while assigned to St. Joseph Church in Lyons in 1980. According to the lawsuit, the molestation happened two years later, while Becker was assigned to an unspecified Milwaukee church. The St. Joseph altar boy, then 14, went to Becker's church the night before he was to serve as an altar boy there.

In the lawsuit, Linneman claims he was sexually abused at Becker's living quarters at the parish. It says that situation could have been avoided if the archdiocese had publicly disclosed allegations that Becker "fondled the genitals of a 13- or 14-year-old boy on approximately 10 separate occasions" from 1971 to 1972, performed other sex acts on a 14- or 15-year-old boy in California in 1978 and reportedly molested other boys in 1980 and 1982. "Had (the) Plaintiff or his family known what Defendant Archdiocese knew - that Franklyn Becker had sexually molested numerous children before (the) Plaintiff and that Franklyn Becker was a danger to children, (the) Plaintiff would not have been sexually molested," the lawsuit says.

At a news conference held Monday to discuss the lawsuit and allegations that Becker molested two other men when they were boys at his churches, activists from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests distributed copies of an e-mail report from Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan to priests and Catholic lay leaders that included a brief mention that Becker had been "returned to the lay state by the Holy See."

A retired priest of the Catholic Diocese of Davenport agreed Monday to pay a confidential sum of money to settle the three remaining civil lawsuits by men accusing him of sexually abusing them as children decades ago.

The Rev. Francis Bass, 82, who served as a parish priest in the diocese from 1948 to 1992, apologized in a court statement filed Monday in the lawsuit brought by Steven Davis of Wisconsin in 2003.

“To Steven Davis and others I may have harmed, I apologize,” Bass said in a statement made under oath. “I hope this statement will assist in the healing process.”

The statement by Bass, who at one time faced five lawsuits, makes him the second priest of the diocese to settle a civil lawsuit alleging sexual abuse.

MILWAUKEE - A man filed a lawsuit Monday alleging he was molested by a priest as an altar boy in 1982 and that church officials knew the priest had sexually abused other boys in the past.

The lawsuit, filed by Charles Linneman, 36, of Sugar Grove, Ill., named the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, former priest Franklyn Becker and an insurance company.

Linneman contends he was sexually abused at the age of 14 in Becker's living quarters at a Milwaukee-area parish. The lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages, alleges that Becker had previously molested other boys, causing church officials to transfer him to a parish in California and then back to Wisconsin again.

Charges were filed against Becker in 2003 accusing him of molesting a boy in a San Diego parish in 1978. The charges were dismissed after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a law that allowed prosecution of decades-old sex abuse allegations.

By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
May 17, 2005
Two weeks before his civil trial was to begin, a retired Davenport priest settled with 14 men who said they were molested by him.

The Rev. Francis Bass, 83, a former parish priest in the Davenport diocese, issued a statement Monday acknowledging the confidential monetary settlement.

"Given the number and nature of the claims and the extent of the evidence supporting them, I have concluded that it is not likely that I can prevail on the merits and that it is in my interest and the interest of all that these claims be resolved," Bass said in a written statement.

Bass also apologized to Wisconsin resident Steven Davis, 36, and "others I may have harmed," stating he hoped his statement would help the men in the healing process.

On May 9, a Scott County jury awarded $1.8 million to James Wells, who said defrocked priest James Janssen sexually abused him for nine years, beginning when he was 5 years old. At the trial, Janssen admitted the abuse only to recant the next day.

Nearly half of the $100 million in sexual- abuse settlements paid by the Diocese of Orange earlier this year went to plaintiffs who named one of three once-beloved priests as an abuser, court records show.

The three are Siegfried Widera, Eleuterio Ramos and Michael Harris.

The diocese settled with 11 men who claimed abuse by Ramos; nine who claimed abuse by Widera; and nine who claimed abuse by Harris. In three of the nine Harris cases, a church layman was also accused.

Settlements in those 29 cases totaled $46.78 million, according to a court order filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The settlements by the church release it from liability but are not a legal judgment of guilt or innocence.

In 2001 the diocese settled with one of Harris' accusers for $5.2 million. In the 1990s it reached confidential settlements with two of Ramos' accusers. Ramos and Widera are now dead.

WORCESTER— The Rev. Michael J. Sheridan, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester who was ordered back to Worcester this weekend after an alleged incident in a northern Maine jail, has been stripped of his authority to function as a priest in this diocese.

Bishop Robert J. McManus said yesterday he is awaiting a full report on Rev. Sheridan’s conduct from the Diocese of Portland, Maine, but is going to let stand a decision by Bishop Richard Malone of Portland to remove his priestly authority. Rev. Sheridan, 56, “will not have faculties for priestly ministry in the Diocese of Worcester or anywhere else at this time,” Bishop McManus said.

District Attorney Michael Povich of Ellsworth, Maine, said yesterday in a telephone interview that he did not want to divulge details of the incident except to say that it involved “inappropriate physical interaction” with a female inmate at the jail. Some of that interaction was videotaped by a camera in the jail.

Mr. Povich said the conduct was in no way criminal and he preferred that details be released by the Worcester and Portland dioceses. If the incident had been a conjugal visit involving a married couple, they would have been told to stop, he said.

Jail authorities in Machias, Maine, reported the incident to the Portland diocese, which also is investigated. The Portland diocese declined to give specifics except to say the incident, which allegedly happened about a week ago, was a violation of its code of conduct. Bishop Malone ordered Rev. Sheridan out of his diocese and back to Worcester. Rev. Sheridan never officially became a priest of the Portland diocese and remained under the authority of the Worcester bishop; therefore, he was ordered back to Worcester.

A former prison chaplain, Rev. Sheridan was administrator of Holy Name Parish of Machias and St. Michael Mission of Cherryfield, Maine. He did not appear for Masses in Maine last weekend and a substitute priest was sent into those communities.

Rev. Sheridan, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., had been serving in Maine for the past decade, according to Raymond L. Delisle, spokesman for the Worcester diocese. He had planned to return to Worcester this summer, he said.

The priest was ordained here in 1975 by Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan and served in a number of parishes including St. Pius X, Leicester; St. Bernard, Worcester; Holy Family of Nazareth, Leominster; St. Luke the Evangelist, Westboro; St. Peter, Northbridge; St. Louis, Webster; and St. Mary, Uxbridge.

May 16, 2005

(May 16, 2005) — A Catholic priest accused of transporting and possessing child pornography may plead guilty on Wednesday, his attorney said today.

The Rev. Michael Volino is accused possessing hundreds of images of child pornography on a computer.

After a hearing today, his lawyer, John Parrinello, said Volino may plead guilty in federal court Wednesday. He said there are unresolved issues that must be negotiated with prosecutors by then.

The child pornography was discovered by a technology specialist at the Diocese of Rochester who was repairing Volino's computer, according to the FBI. Officials at the diocese then contacted authorities. Volino had been a priest at St. John the Evangelist Church of Greece, 2400 W. Ridge Road, since 2002.

What do you do when a convicted pedophile gets saved in prison and upon release wants to join your church? What do you say to him and how do you confront the issues involved? Do you inform the church of his being there?

If you do not, are you putting the children in your church at risk? How would you discuss this in a meeting with the church board? And what about pastoral confidentiality? This is one of the delicate cases detailed in Facing Messy Stuff In The Church.

Every pastor and chaplain who deals with the complex problems of this, 'anything-goes' 21st Century, will benefit from this book.

It is also invaluable for every seminary student and new pastor who hasn't lived long enough to deal with many of life's messes on behalf of the God of mercy and grace.

Even so, the messy stuff profiled in this book is enough to sober even the most seasoned of pastors. It is frank, raw, and instructive. At times, overwhleming. And these are all real cases in various denominational settings in various parts of the country.

The challenging (as well as sensitive) messes dealt with in this excellent Kregel Publications release are dealt with forthrightly.

It is fascinating, informative, and an easy-read (indeed, a most pleasant, smooth read) of fifteen case studies.

In it, author and theological professor, Kenneth L. Swetland (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary where he also serves as campus chaplain) prepares church leaders to deal head-on with the messy stuff, rather than merely doing damage control after the problems have erupted.

SPRINGFIELD – The Hampden County District Attorney has decided not to file charges of sexual assault against former Catholic priest John R. Russell.

But Springfield native Janet M. (Bengle) Ruidl will not be deterred in her quest to publicize her alleged victimization as a youngster in Holy Cross Parish in the late 1960s. She believes other girls may have been victimized by Father Russell at that time.

Now a resident of the Milwaukee Diocese in Wisconsin, Ruidl said she was the subject of inappropriate sexual advances and an alleged sexual assault perpetuated by the then-Catholic priest between 1968 and the early 1970s when she was in high school and the first year of nursing school.

After more than three decades of internal struggle with the alleged events of her adolescence, and after the national clergy abuse scandal erupted, Ruidl decided to report her misconduct story to the Springfield Diocesan Review Board in April 2004. The review board deemed the story credible and forwarded the report to Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett. In a telephone interview with The Catholic Observer, Father Russell denied all charges made in Ruidl’s statement.

SPRINGFIELD – A private investigator hired by a Springfield newspaper to investigate the 1972 murder of Daniel Croteau sent unusually worded letters to at least 13 priests of the Diocese of Springfield asking for information.

The letters, dated Easter Sunday, March 23, seem to imply that investigator R.C. Stevens could offer confidentiality to informant clergy, and that the former state police officer might know about unfavorable personal histories of the priests.

“Please understand that my inquiries do not necessarily reflect you, your past or your current circumstances. However, through the course of our investigation, unusual circumstances have emerged surrounding groups of individuals,” the letters said.

Stevens, a retired state police officer once attached to the Northwest District Attorney’s office in Northampton, was hired by The Republican newspaper last August to investigate the 1972 unsolved murder of Daniel Croteau.

Alluding to colleagues at his Hadley-based detective agency, Psychologically Supported Intervention & Investigation, he wrote: “As private investigators, our ability to pose questions in confidence proves advantageous should individuals feel apprehensive with regard to the possibility of public misperceptions.”

MACHIAS, Maine - A Roman Catholic priest and former state prison chaplain has been removed over ethical violations in his ministry at the Washington County jail, the Diocese of Portland said Saturday.

The Rev. Michael Sheridan, who was administrator of Holy Name Parish in Machias and St. Michael Mission in Cherryfield, was directed to return to his home diocese in Worcester, Mass., immediately. He already had planned to return to Worcester this summer.

The Diocese of Portland will give a full report to the Worcester diocese, which will decide whether and how to discipline him, said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Portland.

Jail officials reported the misconduct last weekend and a church investigation verified the complaint. Bernard said the diocese could not discuss the nature of the violations because it was a personnel matter. She did not know whether the violations would result in any criminal charges.

MACHIAS — A Roman Catholic priest and former state prison chaplain has been removed over ethical violations in his ministry at the Washington County jail, the Diocese of Portland said on Saturday.

The Rev. Michael Sheridan, who was administrator of Holy Name Parish in Machias and St. Michael Mission in Cherryfield, was directed to return to his home diocese in Worcester, Mass., immediately. He already had planned to return to Worcester this summer.

Although a diocese representative declined to discuss the details of the violation, the district attorney for Washington and Hancock counties said Sunday night that the violation appears to have been a case of "mutual interaction between the priest and a female inmate at the jail."

"This does not in any way come close to criminal conduct," District Attorney Michael Povich said.

ROCKFORD -- Defying the bishop of the Rockford diocese, local members of a Catholic lay organization held a meeting Sunday in a church sanctuary.

Bishop Thomas Doran, who has said Voice of the Faithful is not a sanctioned Catholic group, has denied the Rockford affiliate of the organization the right to meet on church property and refused to meet with members.

Aimee Carevich Hariramani, an official of Voice of the Faithful who came from Boston to attend the meeting, called Sunday's participants pioneers.

"This is a really special moment in the life of this group," she said.

Voice of the Faithful was formed in response to the sexual-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. According to its literature, the group's mission is threefold: support victims of clergy abuse, support priests of integrity and shape structural change within the parameters of the church.

Started in 2002 with a handful of members in Massachusetts, the group now claims more than 25,000 registered supporters in the U.S. and 21 other countries.

Tennessee leaders of a national group critical of the Catholic Church's handling of sex abuse allegations want the Memphis diocese to step up its efforts to prosecute pedophile priests.

Members of Church of the Ascension in Raleigh want to be left alone.

Both sides squared off Sunday following a 10 a.m. mass as parishioners leaving the church discovered every car in the parking lot had been leafleted by members of SNAP (Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests).

The activist organization targeted Ascension because three priests accused of sexual abuse had been assigned to the church previously.

The group's action angered many parishioners.

"This is our place of worship and they have no right to be here doing this," said Becky DeGroff. "I wish they would just go away. I'm sick of this."

SNAP members are upset by a diocesan decision in February to return Father Richard Mickey to the ministry. Mickey was serving as pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Jackson, Tenn., when he was placed on administrative leave in August following a civil lawsuit that claimed the priest molested twin brothers in 1980.

Two more men have come forward alleging sexual abuse by the Rev. Daniel McSheffery, including the first accusation that McSheffrey engaged in misconduct while he was pastor of St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church in North Branford.

The priest, who is in his mid-70s, lives in Florida. McSheffery served in North Branford for 16 years until the first allegations surfaced in 2002.

Since 2002, six other men have accused McSheffery of sexual abuse. Five civil suits stem from McSheffery’s time at St. Augustine. The sixth comes from McSheffery’s stint at St. George in Guilford.

One of the latest lawsuits, filed in New Haven, comes from a man known as "John Doe," an altar boy at St. Augustine in North Branford at the time of the alleged 1988 incident.

Clarification: A headline on yesterday's Page One story regarding Catholic Church rules on priest abuse was unclear on the procedure for retaining the rules. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops will debate proposed changes to the policy at a meeting next month in Chicago; any changes approved by the bishops will then have to be approved by the Vatican.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A monk drank poison and was rushed to a hospital Monday moments after becoming the first Buddhist clergyman to be convicted of the sexual abuse of a child in Sri Lanka, court officials and police said.

Monk Bellana Panniyaloka was found guilty of grave sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl in 2001 and was given the maximum 20-year penalty, court official N.K. Siripala said.

Soon after the sentence, Panniyaloka drank from a bottle he had concealed in his robes and collapsed, Siripala said. He was rushed to a hospital.

"The priest is in critical condition," said Hector Weerasinghe, director of the ColomboAbuse Tracker Hospital. He said the 55-year-old monk had consumed insecticide.

The priest belongs to a temple in Nugegoda, just outside the capital Colombo, where the victim was a Sunday school student, Siripala said.

Monday's conviction came a day after a senior Buddhist monk was arrested on charges of sexually abusing a teenager in another Sri Lankan temple, officials said.

May 15, 2005

As massive institutional and moral failings go, the Roman Catholic Church's child-rape scandal is a doozy. It is almost unfathomable that the church could become so infested by those who twisted Christ's love of children ("Suffer the little children to come unto me ...") into exploitation, and that many leaders refused to side with the victims.

Now that a record-setting settlement has been provided by the Diocese of Orange, and personnel records here are about to be released (although the archdiocese of Los Angeles and many dioceses across the country continue to resist the release of documents), it's useful to look for clues about why the scandal took place.

The files, as bland as they seem, might offer answers about what church leaders knew and when they knew it, which is why abuse victims, notably Joelle Casteix and her attorney John Manly, insisted that the $100 million settlement for 87 Orange Diocese victims include the documents' release.

The church, to its credit, complied and turned the files over to the court. Some alleged abusers are asking to keep the documents sealed, and the court will decide this month. The terms of the settlement: All documents relating to the sexual abuse of children are to be released, although alleged abusers can keep other documents - i.e., performance reviews, 401(k) information, etc. - outside of the public's view.

My theory is the files will include detailed documentation of abuse by priests and others and then glowing review letters sent by the church to the next diocese or employer, thereby shuttling the problem somewhere else. That's what we saw when the Boston archdiocese documents were released by the court.

TUCSON (AP) -- Four objections have been submitted to a bankruptcy court considering a request by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson to cap its payout for sex-abuse claims at $20 million.

The objections are in response to the diocese's proposal that would make initial payments to alleged abuse victims that would range from $100,000 to $600,000, depending on the severity of the abuse, according to court records.

The deadline to file an objection with the court was Friday.

Critics say the cap falls short of compensating victims whose claims are substantiated.

The diocese maintains it doesn't have enough money to pay all claims and that the bankruptcy reorganization is the only way to pay off plaintiffs and other creditors fairly while preserving the diocese.

The diocese listed $16.6 million in assets and $20.7 million in liabilities when it filed for bankruptcy protection, not including parishes.

When I was 7 years old I was anally raped in the men's bathroom of the Capitol Theater in Winnipeg, Manitoba by a Catholic priest. I was lured into this situation with the promise money. I came from the home of a hard-working single mom struggling to raise four children on her own and where of course we did not have a great deal money. So the promise of money was very attractive to my seven year old imagination. Little did I know what the cost to my life over the next several decades would come too.

This violent and premature sexual awakening would take its toll on every aspect of my life, family and friends thereafter which included a brief but soul wrenching eight month engagement in prostitution.

My relations with girls and then women were either shallow or guarded or completely obsessive. Being the youngest of four and being four years younger than the next oldest I didn't have a whole lot of play contact with my older siblings so I found myself obsessing sexually on my own. With no way to express these feelings it seemed that I turned to stealing money from my mother. I suppose as an unconscious act to send a signal that there was something terribly wrong. I stole my mother's entire formidable coin collection and seemingly endless amounts of cash from her purse. In the 1960's there were no avenues of discussion or investigation of the symptoms of sexual abuse and therefore those children including myself did not have anywhere to go except for aberrant behavior.

Part of that aberrant behavior was to shut out the influence of authority figures all around me and especially at school. Even though being very bright I barely made it through elementary school and did eventually drop out of school entirely. The emotional state of mind of one not having a father around and two dealing with the emotional nightmare of sexual abuse I simply could not cope in the day to day of it all.

Sunday, May 15, 2005
TED MAHAR
B esides being an absorbing drama reminiscent of Costa-Gavras' classic "Z," the Showtime movie "Our Fathers" is a phenomenon in itself. The pedophile priest scandal in the American Roman Catholic Church has become so familiar -- in fact, such a cliche -- that it has become fodder for a cable docudrama.

Its director, Dan Curtis, is a veteran of television epics ("Dark Shadows," "The Winds of War," "War and Remembrance").

The national scandal, of course, is far too large to encompass in 85 minutes -- and it is hardly the sole property of the United States. "Our Fathers" is based on David France's 2004 book, "Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal."

As in "Z," the true story plays out like contrived melodrama, with villains entrenched in high places and a hand-to-mouth lawyer clawing at a fortress for a morsel of justice for the victims he represents. But he happens to be in the right place at the right time for a domino to fall on another domino.

A former Stockton Roman Catholic priest convicted of molesting a 14-year-old Turlock boy has been paroled to Stockton after serving half of a six-year sentence.

Oskar Peleaz, 38, pleaded guilty in 2002 to molesting the teen over a two year period while serving as a pastor at Turlock's Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Peleaz was granted parole Tuesday after serving three years in prison. His term was divided between the Deuel Vocational Institution near Tracy and Mule Creek State Prison near Ione.

San Joaquin County Sheriff's spokesman Les Garcia said Peleaz has registered as a sex offenderwith the sheriff's office in compliance with state law. Peleaz lists an address on East Waterloo Road as his current residence.

Peleaz will be under the supervision of a parole officer for the next three years. Diocese of Stockton spokeswoman Terry Davis said the diocese will work with Peleaz's parole officer to aid in the former priest's rehabilitation.

Sunday, May 15, 2005
Ted Danson is no newcomer to TV movies that tackle difficult subjects. He won a Golden Globe award for his work in "Something About Amelia," the landmark 1984 film about incest.

The Emmy-winning "Cheers" star has top billing in "Our Fathers," Showtime's movie about the sexual-abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church. It premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday, and Danson knows that the very topic makes this drama controversial.

But he hopes "Our Fathers" won't be viewed as anti-Catholic. Many of the film's heroes are Catholic, Danson says, and certainly the victims brave enough to confront tortuous pasts are Catholic.

Olan Horne agrees with Danson. Portrayed by Chris Bauer in the cable film, Horne was a 12-year-old schoolboy when first molested by a Boston Diocese priest named Joseph E. Birmingham.

"We're Catholic chickens who came home to roost," Horne said of himself and fellow abuse survivors. "Remember, we learned our morals here. I wasn't a weekend Catholic."

And Horne's message is not one of anger and attack. It's about healing.

A key group of US bishops is recommending that the Roman Catholic church retain its policy of removing from ministry all sexually abusive priests, despite concern from critics that the policy is too harsh.

The policy, approved by the bishops in the spring of 2002 and adjusted later that year when the Vatican demanded changes to protect priests' rights, requires that any priest who had committed even a single act of abuse, no matter how long ago, be barred from saying Mass publicly, from administering the sacraments, from wearing clerical garb, or from presenting himself publicly as a priest. The priest is then asked to lead a life of ''prayer and penance."

The policy was approved overwhelmingly while the church was under intense public pressure in the midst of the sexual abuse crisis. Some bishops and priests have criticized the policy as inflexible and as contrary to Christian teaching about the possibility of forgiveness and redemption.

Most notably, Cardinal Avery Dulles, a member of the faculty at Fordham University and the most prominent American Catholic theologian, wrote last year in America magazine, the Jesuit weekly: ''There is no reason to think that the protection of young people requires the removal from the ministry of elderly or mature priests who may have committed an offense in their youth but have performed many decades of exemplary service. Such action seems to reflect an attitude of vindictiveness to which the church should not yield."

But there now appears to be little appetite in the United States and in Rome to revisit the zero-tolerance policy, which has led to the removal of hundreds of priests. The bishops conference said last year that 700 priests and deacons had been ministry from 2002 to 2004.

By Dennis O'Connor
For the Sunday Challenger
feedback@challengernky.com

COVINGTON - For more than four years, Rev. Thomas Reese, (Society of Jesus), long-time editor of the national Catholic newsweekly America had dealt with complaints by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger over how the Jesuit publication dealt with controversial issues. On May 6, Reese announced he was throwing in the towel, acknowledging that his tenure would be even more difficult with the former head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith installed as the new Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI. Reese's seven-year tenure at America will close at the end of May, in the wake of articles on topics as varied as married priests, homosexual clergy and ordination of women - subjects that, it appears, are now verboten from official church discourse.

For Vatican watchers, the America resignation was the first sign since wisps of white smoke curled heavenwards from the Sistine Chapel of just what a new papacy might mean. Would there be more polarization within the ranks of the faithful, between those seeking dialogue about the issues being explored in America magazine and the likes of William Donohue, head of New York-based Catholic League, who last week urged Catholics everywhere to "get over" any objections they might have to a Benedictine papacy? And how will this new pope address the scandals of the American church's clerical sex-abuse crisis?

"I think that underneath all this, with the election of a new pope, there is great hope in the Diocese of Covington," said Jim Ott, former president of the advisory board for the Diocese of Covington's newspaper, the Messenger, and author of a history of the diocese, "Seekers of the Everlasting Kingdom: A Brief History of the Diocese of Covington."

"You have this general malaise within the diocese because of the sexual (abuse) problems," Ott said. "Attendance at Mass is down. I really think a lot of people have quit going to church. But with the positive coverage that the church had received with the death of Pope John Paul II and then the election of Pope Benedict, there has been quite a bit of good news. It is something to build on, something for people to look forward to."

The events of recent weeks also have been a diversion from the challenges confronting Bishop Roger Foys and the Diocese of Covington. Faced with financial pressure because of ongoing legal fees and payments related to the clergy sex abuse scandal, Foys directed diocese department directors to whittle employee ranks. Layoffs at the diocese offices in Erlanger will take place July 1.

By Dennis O'Connor
For The Sunday Challenger
feedback@challengernky.com

COVINGTON - In 2001, not long after the St. Mary's Cathedral renovation was completed, Covington diocese Bishop Robert Muench returned to Louisiana, where he is now Bishop of Baton Rouge. He left just before the priest sex abuse scandal broke throughout the country.

Covington had its own experience early on with a wayward priest in Earl Beerman, former pastor and head of the Marydale Retreat Center who was convicted of child sexual abuse. Jerry Enderle, editor of the diocese's newspaper throughout that period, noted that the Beerman case was emblematic of the problems that Catholic bishops throughout the United States were dealing with at the time.

"A lot of the problems (of clergy sexual abuse) began in the 1950s and 1960s. At least that we know of. You can only imagine what went on before that. But in the case of a guy like Beerman, Bishop Hughes sought the best advice he could get at the time, and he followed that advice. The 'rulebook' at the time said that you should forgive. Offer treatment and forgive. The bishops were told that when you sent these priests to treatment programs, they were cured of their problems, and they believed what they were told. But it didn't turn out to be true. So, then, they started to listen to their lawyers, which I really think is what has gotten the bishops into the predicament they are into today."

Dioceses throughout the country have enacted new rules to protect children, inform law enforcement about any violations and offer treatment as much as possible for victims. For many, though, it is "too little, too late."

(Sunday, May 15 12:04 AM)
By Kate O'Hare
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) During April, the eyes of the press and millions of the faithful turned to the Vatican at the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II and the selection and installation of his successor, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as Pope Benedict XVI.

It was probably the most attention -- and overall, the most positive coverage -- the Roman Catholic Church had received since 2002, when a persistent team of Boston Globe reporters blew open the scandal in the Boston archdiocese surrounding sexual abuse of minors -- overwhelmingly boys -- by such priests as John J. Geoghan, Joseph Birmingham and Paul Shanley.

Compounding the allegations by the now-adult victims was the revelation that church officials, and in particular, Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law, had shuffled the perpetrators from parish to parish, one step ahead of angry parents, victims and the law.

And it's not just Boston, as abuse charges have surfaced in other American cities and around the world. The scandal's aftermath was felt to some degree in every Roman Catholic parish in the United States and in the Vatican itself.
On Saturday, May 21, Showtime premieres "Our Fathers," a docudrama version of Newsweek journalist David France's extensive nonfiction book, "Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal."

It simply was creepy to watch a news report of Oliver O'Grady, the defrocked and deported Roman Catholic priest who was convicted of-molesting children in California, as he described how he lured trusting kids into his snare.

"We begin, just the hugging," he said. "Hugging starts off, and then I might just drop my hands. And all the time you're sort of looking for an OK or a permission, and if I wasn't getting a resistance, that was allowing me to go further and further."

O'Grady was giving a deposition in his native Ireland to attorneys who had filed a civil suit against the Stockton Diocese in California, where O'Grady had committed several molestations. The suit claimed the diocese failed to protect children from O'Grady, a known abuser.

O'Grady sat there, sometimes contrite, sometimes winking, as he recalled what he had done. According to his reported testimony, if the child gave him a big hug, he took that as permission to molest.

I've only seen bits and pieces of the-deposition and have read accounts of O'Grady's testimony. But we parents have to somehow get our hands on that 15-hour videotaped deposition and show it to our children.

If ``Our Fathers,'' the new TV film about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, were being shown on a major network or a prominent cable channel, it already would be a lightning rod for controversy.

But ``Fathers,'' based on Newsweek reporter David France's critically acclaimed book, is a production of Showtime, the premium cable channel that is a poor cousin to HBO despite an often-admirable slate of original films and series. As a result, it will air this weekend (8 p.m. Saturday) without the kind of advance national publicity normally lavished on a big TV film.

Too bad, because ``Fathers'' is everything most television docudramas about recent events are not: thoughtful, restrained without sacrificing emotion, and with a clear ring of truth to it. It is sensational only to the extent that the case itself rocked the very foundation of the church itself. It is inflammatory only to the degree to which Catholics were inflamed by the church hierarchy's reaction to the abuse of hundreds of children by priests they trusted.

While the abuse scandals in other U.S. dioceses are mentioned, ``Fathers'' is devoted to the scandal that rocked the diocese of Boston and its powerful archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law.

Boston was ground zero for the tragedy that enveloped the U.S. church starting in 2000. The cases of such abusive priests as John J. Geoghan, Joe Birmingham and Paul Shanley erupted there. (Although it initially took on the story with great hesitation, the Boston Globe would win a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for its coverage.) It was in Boston that a group of fervent victims and passionate lawyers went toe-to-toe with the politically powerful Catholic hierarchy, forcing not only multimillion-dollar settlements but also the resignation of Law.

When Pope John Paul II died early last month, papal pundits were consumed with the idea that the world's cardinals might replace him with an African or Latin American pope -- someone from a part of the world where the Catholic Church finds its greatest growth, and perhaps, its future.

Instead, they elected German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a longtime Vatican insider, as Pope Benedict XVI.

On Friday, Benedict named an American, San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, as his chief doctrinal watchdog for the 1.1 billion Catholics around the world.

To some observers, the election of a German pope and the appointment of an American archbishop show that Catholic leaders are focusing attention on solving problems they see in churches across Europe and the United States. For years, Cardinal Ratzinger bemoaned the steep decline of the church's influence in Italy, France, Germany -- the historic cradle of Catholicism. And while church attendance in the United States is relatively high and stable, the moral and financial fallout of the clergy sexual abuse scandal continues to haunt American bishops accused of covering up the crimes of pedophile priests.

May 14, 2005

Editor's note: This article corrects inaccurate information in an April 29 article about the Diocese of Tucson's proposed settlement of sex abuse claims.
Four objections to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's latest proposal for settling claims of sexual abuse by priests were filed by yesterday's deadline, diocese spokesman Fred Allison said.

In a hearing on the objections Thursday, attorneys for the diocese will answer questions from a federal bankruptcy judge and others about the diocese's proposal to compensate people who have been sexually abused by priests or other diocese workers.

Attorneys have been meeting since the diocese filed for Chapter 11 reorganization Sept. 20 to work out a tentative plan for paying victims of sex abuse and, in some of the claims, their parents or spouses.

Officials of the diocese have proposed a $20 million cap to settle all credible claims of abuse. About $15.7 million of it would be paid to those with known, credible claims, Allison said.

Some money would be set aside in a trust to pay minors who have not reported alleged abuse and to pay adults who have credible claims but who could not file a claim by April 15 because of repressed memory.

Of the 111 abuse claims filed by the April 15 deadline, 103 remain, Allison said. Eight are duplicate claims, he said.

A man sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis on Friday, alleging that
the church should have protected him from a sexually abusive Catholic priest.

John Doe KK, as he is referred to in the suit, says in the suit that the Rev.
Norman Christian repeatedly sexually abused him between 1974 and 1976, when the
13- to 15-year-old was an altar boy at St. George's parish in Affton.

The man is now in his 40s and lives out of state.

Christian died in October. He was removed from the St. William Catholic Church
in Woodson Terrace in 1995 after an allegation of sexual abuse.

Most kids who went to a catholic school have stories about 'the nuns.'

Now a story that is for the most part untold.

Allegations that some of those nuns sexually abused children.

The story starts in southern Minnesota. The buildingt sits so stately in the small town of Frontenac and has such a pretty name. Villa Maria. Mary Dunford left home to live there when it was a boarding school run by the Ursuline Nuns.

She told us, "They had quite an emphasis on education and lot of religion and discipline."

Young girls respected the Sisters dressed in their black habits.

What Mary Dunford didn't expect was the darkness she'd find inside one of those habits.

Dunford explained, "She would come into my room every night after the other girls had been in bed. And she would take off her upper clothing down to her waist and then she would kiss me on the mouth a lot and tell me she loved me and pull me to her breasts. At the time Dunford thought she was having an affair with a Catholic nun.

Steve Theisen thought he was too while he attended Sacred Heart Catholic school in Dubuque, Iowa.

A former St. Matthew's Catholic Church pastor has been placed on administrative leave as church leaders investigate eight-year old allegations of sexual impropriety, the Diocese of Tyler announced Friday.

In 2002, Monsignor John Flynn retired from St. Matthew's in Longview, at the request of Bishop Alvaro Corrado of the Tyler Diocese, following allegations from a San Antonio woman made in October 1997.

Flynn has most recently provided ongoing ministry to the community of Holy Spirit Church at Holly Lake in Wood County.

"Monsignor Flynn is to refrain from all priestly ministry and has no faculties from the diocese," said a statement released by Corrada.

"There is nothing to suggest that there are any recent victims, or any victims in the diocese."

Flynn stepped down as pastor of St. Matthew's Church in San Antonio in 1997 after an unidentified woman accused him of unspecified sexual misconduct with her more than 20 years before. Reports in the San Antonio Express-News describe the woman alternately as an adolescent or teenager at the time of the original misconduct. Flynn spent several months under evaluation at a treatment center in Maryland after he left the San Antonio church.

The Catholic Diocese of Covington's decision to move its offices to less costly quarters in St. Elizabeth Hospital North's inner city unit gives further proof that the priest sex-abuse scandal left behind not only shattered lives but crippled finances.

Bishop Roger Foys says good stewardship would have dictated the move in any case from the current Erlanger-based Catholic Center, a sprawling former seminary. But almost $4 million in savings paid out to settle sex abuse claims since 2003 also has diminished interest income that had been used to pay for the center's maintenance costs. The diocese still faces a class-action lawsuit, the only one of its kind brought in the United States. Some claims go back 50 years. Foys arrived in summer 2002.

The move makes sense for more than the expected $300,000 in cost savings, 24-hour security, a location closer to the cathedral and computer-ready office space. It's a chance to make a fresh start, returning to the church's humbler, simpler roots in the urban core. The church and the Catholic hospital share a common mission. It's especially good that diocesan officials can embrace a vow of "never again" in a less luxurious context that helps them to "never forget."

SAN FRANCISCO — Archbishop William Levada, who catapulted Friday into the most influential Vatican post ever held by an American, has a track record of upholding Roman Catholic policies while deftly handling controversy.

But his appointment as the chief enforcer of church doctrine was sharply criticized by clerical sex abuse victims, who say he's done a poor job of dealing with the crisis. Levada countered that his experience with the issue is an advantage for the church.

The 68-year-old leader of the San Francisco Archdiocese was named by longtime friend Pope Benedict XVI as his own replacement leading the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The congregation is responsible for policing and enforcing church doctrine. Among other things, it examines writings contradicting church teachings and crimes against faith, morality and the sacraments.

It also reviews all sex abuse claims against clergy, to see whether a priest should be forced out, given a church trial or found innocent.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said Levada has been "slow to act, harsh to victims and committed to secrecy' in responding to molestation claims.

12:00 - 01 May 2005
A Senior Church of England official in Staffordshire has been charged with indecently assaulting a child. The Reverend Peter Lister, The Diocese of Lichfield's director of education, has been bailed to appear before magistrates in Bedlington, Northumberland, next Tuesday to answer the allegation that he indecently assaulted a child.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Lichfield today confirmed Mr Lister has been suspended on full pay from his duties pending the outcome of the investigation.

The spokesman added that Mr Lister denies the allegation. In a statement, a diocesan spokesman said: "We have been informed that a serious criminal charge has been laid against The Reverend Peter Lister. The police have kept us informed about their investigation. Mr Lister has been suspended from [his] duties."

It has also emerged that the allegation dates from a time before the clergyman's employment with the Diocese of Lichfield, and does not involve any church schools in the Diocese of Lichfield or the Diocese of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Saturday, May 14, 2005
NANCY HAUGHT
Pope Benedict XVI made the first major announcements of his new papacy Friday, starting an accelerated process to bestow sainthood for the late Pope John Paul II and naming William J. Levada, the former Archbishop of Portland, to the top theological watchdog post of the Roman Catholic Church.

Levada, 68, now archbishop of San Francisco, will become a cardinal and the most powerful American at the Vatican when he heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which enforces church doctrine on topics ranging from abortion, marriage and priest sex abuse to theological dissent by clergy.

To clergy at Rome's largest basilica, the St. John Lateran Church, Benedict said, "And now I have a very joyous piece of news for you." He read a letter asking the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints to skip the five-year waiting period after a person dies and the process for beatification begins. The priests stood and clapped at the news. ...

In 1988, a Portland man filed a suit claiming he had been molested by the Rev. John Goodrich, a former pastor of St. John Fisher Church in Southwest Portland. The church settled the suit in 1990 for nearly $500,000. In 1991, Levada suspended the Rev. Maurice Grammond for refusing to cooperate after being accused of sexual abuse. More than 50 men subsequently accused Grammond of sexual abuse.

In 1982, when Monsignor Vincent Breen was forced to leave Holy Spirit parish amid a criminal investigation into his sexual abuse of young girls, many parishioners leapt to his defense, attacking the victims, their parents and anyone who believed their stories.

That didn't happen this week, when Bishop Allen Vigneron apologized at the Fremont church for the late monsignor's sexual misconduct.

In 1982, despite a diligent police investigation, Breen never served a day in jail. An agreement was reached with the Diocese of Oakland and the victims' families not to press charges against Breen if he retired, left the area and sought counseling.

It seems highly unlikely such an inappropriate deal would be made today, given the arrest and attempted prosecution of former local priests Stephen Kiesle and Robert Freitas three years ago.

In 1982, diocese officials failed to cooperate fully with the police investigation until detectives threatened to go to the media with the story. A decade earlier, another allegation was withdrawn after attorneys for the diocese "visited" the victim's family. Five years after that, another allegation was investigated by another child molester, the late Monsignor George Francis of Hayward.

May 13, 2005 3:51 pm US/Pacific
(CBS 5) San Francisco Archbishop William Levada will become prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith -- the Vatican office once known as the Inquisition.

It's the same job Pope Benedict held for 24 years when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. The job will give Levada authority over the priest sex abuse scandal that has convulsed the American church.

"It could very well be that one of the reasons that our Holy Father chose an American for this position is because it is precisely the knowledge of our present situation in this terrible issue of sex abuse that is so important for the prefect of the congregation now responsible for making sure these things are handled in the proper manner," Levada said.

But a victims group says Levada will rule on cases that he has already been accused of covering up.

"When Archbishiop Levada goes to Rome, when there is an appeal of any process about a sexual abuse matter, it will go to him and his job in Rome," said Terrie Light of Survivors' Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. "Our concern is he will cover it up, deny it, and do nothing."

The church is in settlement negotiations with some victims of San Francisco priest abuse. The archbishop's reassignment may delay any settlement if the church decides to wait for Levada's successor to review the cases.

"How it works out, it's such a complicated world," Levada said.

The Archbishop grew testy as reporters asked how he characterized the priest abuse issue to then-Cardinal Ratzinger.

"Anything I said to him before he was pope, either I don't remember or it's none of your business," Levada said.

Pope Benedict XVI took the unprecedented step Friday of naming a U.S. church leader to head what has become the Vatican's most powerful office.

San Francisco Archbishop William Levada will lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which enforces Catholic teachings and discipline around the globe. It rules on all sorts of hot-button issues where the pope and the archbishop appear to agree completely – abortion, euthanasia, gay rights and priestly celibacy, among others.

William Levada will lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The congregation also decides the fate of priests accused of child molestation. Archbishop Levada has come under intense criticism in recent years for his handling of such cases in San Francisco.

Last fall, for example, the founding chairman of the archdiocesan panel that reviews abuse cases quit and denounced Archbishop Levada. Dr. James Jenkins, a psychologist, accused him of "deception, manipulation and control" of the panel.

Maurice Healy, the archbishop's spokesman, said Friday that "Dr. Jenkins is flat-out wrong" and is "thrilled to throw calumny on others."

California's Catholic bishops are again asking a federal judge to overturn a law that allowed hundreds of people to file lawsuits claiming abuse by priests.

The law state Senate Bill 1779 lifted the statute of limitations for 365 days on all cases of clergy sex abuse, even those that may be decades old.

"The law enacted in 2002 unfairly targeted the Catholic Church and ignored evidence of similar misconduct involving other institutions,' according to a statement released by the Diocese of San Diego after its bishop, Robert H. Brom, filed a motion Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

The diocese stated it has "the full support of all the Catholic bishops in California,' including the 1million-member Diocese of San Bernardino and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation's largest.

Pope Benedict XVI's appointment of San Francisco Archbishop William Levada to one of the most powerful posts at the Vatican signals a new era in the sometimes rocky relationship between Rome and the American church.

Levada, 68, was named Friday as the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, making him the pope's top arbiter on questions of faith and morals. He becomes the highest-ranking American in church history. ...

Levada's toughest critics have been the leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, along with a group of lawyers who have deluged the California church with some 150 lawsuits seeking damage for sexual abuse claims.

On May 4, when rumors of Levada's appointment first surfaced in The Chronicle, the survivor's network issued a press release charging that the San Francisco prelate "has proven time and again that his loyalties are to secrecy, to protecting priests instead of children, and evading justice.''

"He is no way fit for this important responsibility,'' it said.

Levada has vigorously defended his oversight of accused pedophile priests in Portland and San Francisco.

Thus far, five jury trial cases have been decided in San Francisco with approximately $6.5 million awarded, says Larry Drivon, an attorney who is representing many clergy abuse victims.

WASHINGTON -- The Vatican announced yesterday that San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada is the new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the policy-enforcing arm of the papacy that Pope Benedict XVI headed for 24 years. ...

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests issued a statement criticizing the choice, calling it "an insensitive and unwise decision."

"Regarding [sexual] abuse in the San Francisco archdiocese, Levada has been slow to act, harsh to victims and committed to secrecy," said Dan McNevin, SNAP Bay Area spokesman.

"He has allowed credibly accused priests to remain in ministry even while facing pending civil molestation lawsuits. His lawyer has negotiated deals with local district attorneys that help keep abuse cases quiet."

Archbishop Levada, who headed the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., for nine years before being assigned to the San Francisco archdiocese in 1995, also has been blamed for doing little to prevent the 2004 bankruptcy of the Portland archdiocese because of priest sex-abuse claims.

SAN FRANCISCO — Archbishop William J. Levada, named Friday to one of the most powerful positions in the Vatican, said he will bring the voice of the American church to Rome and called his appointment a "tribute to the church in the United States."

"I hope my 22 years of experience as a bishop in the United States will help to represent the church here well to the Holy See and to make the bonds between the See of Peter and the American bishops even stronger," Levada said in a prepared statement announcing his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. ...

But his appointment also was criticized Friday by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who said the archbishop has a poor record of dealing with priest sexual abuse cases. In a statement, the group said Levada "has been slow to act, harsh to victims and committed to secrecy," and has allowed priests to remain in the ministry while they faced molestation lawsuits.

Levada dismissed the criticism, calling it "incorrect and false," and said his knowledge of the "current crisis" is an asset in the Vatican. In fact, he said, his knowledge of the priest abuse cases could have played a role in his selection.

"My appointment should be seen as a net plus for the church in dealing with this issue," he said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco is a champion of Roman Catholic orthodoxy who has raised the ire of victims' advocates for his handling of the clerical sex abuse crisis and has spoken out against same-sex marriage in a city with a vibrant gay and lesbian community.

Levada, 68, was named Friday by Pope Benedict XVI to be his successor as prefect of the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It's the first time an American has held the job, among the most powerful in the Vatican.

In 2003, Levada issued a broad apology to victims of sexual abuse, in which he cited his own failures. "I may have unconsciously been uneasy or afraid to look at the scars caused by sexual abuse so closely," he said.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said Levada had a dismal record on responding to the molestation crisis. Last year, the founding chairman of a watchdog panel Levada formed to review claims against priests in San Francisco resigned in protest when church leaders blocked the release of the panel's findings.

May 13, 2005

By ROBIN GALIANO RUSSELL / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Cardinal Bernard Law, recently criticized for leading a memorial Mass in Rome for Pope John Paul II, is one of the central figures in a Showtime original film premiering May 21.

The film, Our Fathers, takes an agonizing look at the damage done by sexually abusive priests in the archdiocese of Boston. The exposure of the scandal is foreshadowed by the film's opening, taken from the Gospel of Luke: "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known."

The film, is based on Newsweek journalist David France's book Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal .

The docudrama depicts the anguish of victimized boys who become dysfunctional and wounded adults. It also captures the grief experienced by the cardinal himself for not dealing with priests who molested children under his watch. Christopher Plummer gives a subtle but exquisitely tormented performance as he faces victims' support groups and angry parishioners.

The film centers on attorney Mitchell Garabedian, victims who come forward to tell their story, reporters at The Boston Globe and, Cardinal Law.

ERLANGER -- The Covington Diocese will close the Catholic Center and move its operations to office space at St. Elizabeth Medical Center North in downtown Covington, Bishop Roger Foys announced today.

About 50 employees will be relocated in the move.

Bishop Foys noted that since 2003 the diocese has paid out nearly $4 million of its own funds to settle sexual abuse claims and has been working to resolve the class-action lawsuit filed in Boone County District Court.

“We no longer have the interest income which was used to underwrite the Catholic Center’s maintenance costs,” he said. “In any case we would likely have concluded that relocating to lower-cost office space would be prudent.”

The relocation, it is hoped, will save the diocese about $300,000 per year.

There may be Roman Catholics who will regard "Our Fathers," Showtime's Saturday 9 p.m. movie about the church's pedophile priest scandal, as more exploitation, more Catholic-bashing. Olan Horne has another word for the film: "courageous."

Horne is one of the victims. In 1970, consumed with guilt and shame, he confided to Rev. Joseph Birmingham, a friendly, new priest at his church in Lowell, Mass., that he was being sexually molested by a member of his family. Birmingham first coaxed a graphic description of the abuse from him and then asked Horne to show him his genitals. Horne was frightened. He was 12. He did as he was told.

"Showtime has been as courageous as any individual who decided to come forward, because there's still a stigma attached to this," Horne, a butcher by trade, told a group of TV writers in January. "Nobody can have a healthy conversation. I have a family that has difficulty even talking about the issue."

Horne didn't step out of the shadows and speak up until he was middle-aged. An earlier victim of Birmingham, Bernie McDaid, recalled that he did tell his parents and that they reported the priest - in 1969. The priest was transferred. To Lowell.

"Huge fallout"

"The Catholic Church said that they went and got him help, but they never did," said McDaid, now a painting contractor. "The records show differently. The fallout from this is huge, and it needs to be exploited more. We need to talk about it more because the damage, as far as I'm concerned, they raped my soul. OK? They took God from me at age 11, and that needs to be known."

5/13/05 When Father Richard Vega announced to his parish - La Purisima Concepcion in Lompoc - his plans to leave after nearly 11 years of service, there were gasps of surprise and more than a few groans.

Beginning in July 2006, he is to assume the presidency of theAbuse Tracker Federation of Priest Councils (NFPC), a group that represents 26,000 U.S. parish priests serving in 125 dioceses.

The NFPC elected Vega on April 14 as its first Latino president in its 37-year history.

The 47-year old succeeds the Rev. Robert J. Silva of Stockton, who has served since 2000 and has managed the organization's response to the national sex-abuse scandal. ...

On the issue of sexual-abuse scandal, Vega said he will push for providing a safer environment, one that will be more proactive for children.

And concerning those priests that have been convicted, he commented that "most priests are not pedophiles ... [but] we still need to reach out to those in jail. They're still a part of our family. We can't pretend they're not a part of us."

He added that while the NFPC acknowledges the crimes committed, it also must try to reach out and be of support to abusing priests, without losing sight of the victims, of the betrayal, and of the damage done to the church.

Among the things Vega still wants to get done at the parish between now and when he moves on is to strengthen family catechism, because "children learn faith through a family environment ... and parents play a primary role."

NEW YORK, April 21, 2005 -- An investigation into the sexual abuse allegations against a high-ranking priest of the Roman Catholic Church has been reopened, seven years after the formal complaint was first filed with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, according to people familiar with the case.

Ratzinger's office ordered the case against the Rev. Marcial Maciel reopened in December, around the time there was growing speculation Ratzinger was a leading candidate to be the next pope. In fact, a Vatican investigator began taking sworn statements from the alleged victims just two weeks ago in New York, the day Pope John Paul II died, according to sources close to the case.

"They knelt and kissed his ring, filing these charges in his tribunal, and after that it was simply stuffed, it was shelved," said Jason Berry, co-author with Gerald Renner of a book on the case, "Vows of Silence."

"This pope is at a crossroads. He has to resolve the Maciel case or it will stalk him like a shadow in the sun."

On May 6, Diocese of Boise Bishop Michael Driscoll apologized for his role in Orange County’s Roman Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal. Driscoll—who was in charge of priest personnel affairs for the Diocese of Orange from its 1976 inception until leaving for Idaho in 1999—made the stunning admission in a letter printed in the Idaho Catholic Register, stating he was “deeply sorry that the way we handled cases [in Orange County] allowed children to be victimized by permitting some priests to remain in ministry, for not disclosing their behavior to those who might be at risk, and for not monitoring their actions more closely.”

What’s with the mea culpa? Two words: damage control. On May 17, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge will issue a ruling determining which priest personnel files will become public as part of the record-breaking $100 million settlement reached earlier this year between the Orange diocese and sex-abuse victims. Church sources say Driscoll’s name is all over the documents, which molestation survivors claim will show the various cover-ups Orange diocesan officials executed while Driscoll served as chancellor and auxiliary bishop.

But why wait until May 17? Take the following quiz and discover for yourself Driscoll’s role in the rape of innocents!

On May 13, as had long been rumored, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco as the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Why Levada?

First, he has a solid theological background. He wrote his doctoral thesis in theology at Rome's Gregorian University under the direction of Jesuit Fr. Francis Sullivan, widely regarded as one of the best minds in ecclesiology of the 20th century. The subject of Levada's dissertation was "The Infallible Church Magisterium and the Natural Moral Law," examining how the magisterium understands natural law, and especially its binding force. Levada reviewed a range of theological opinions and drew what one observer described as "balanced, judicious" conclusions. Given the way that moral questions, especially on sexual issues and biotechnology, are among the most contentious matters the doctrinal congregation handles, it's a background that would serve Levada well. ...

Fourth, since the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has the juridical responsibility for handling cases of priests accused of sexual abuse, Levada's background as a member of the U.S. bishops' conference and the "mixed commission" that worked out the American norms means that he would bring an insider's understanding to those issues, and become a powerful voice in setting Vatican policy on the sexual abuse issue.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican agency charged with protecting and promoting the church's teachings on faith and morals.

The appointment, announced May 13, marked the first time a U.S. prelate has headed the congregation. It is the oldest of the Vatican's nine congregations and is considered primary in responsibility and influence. ...

Archbishop Levada, who has headed the Archdiocese of San Francisco since 1995, was a key figure in the approval of new norms to handle cases of priestly sexual abuse.

In 2002, he was a member of the U.S.-Vatican commission that made final revisions to the norms, which laid out a strict policy on priestly sex abuse and provided for removal from ministry or laicization of priests who have sexually abused minors.

Earlier this year, he and four other U.S. church leaders returned to the Vatican for talks on extending the norms.

The Rev. Oscar Pelaez, a Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty in 2002 to molesting a Turlock boy, has been released from state prison, officials said Thursday.

Pelaez, 38, was paroled Tuesday after serving nearly three years of a six-year sentence for molesting the youth, the California Department of Corrections reported. The victim attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Turlock, where Pelaez once served.

Pelaez's new place of residence could not be determined Thursday. A brief form from the state agency said he was released in Parole Region 1, which includes all of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada. A spokesman said he did not have more precise information.

The Diocese of Stockton, overseeing Catholic churches in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and central Sierra, issued a news release Thursday announcing Pelaez's parole. Sister Terry Davis, a diocese spokeswoman, said it is working with his parole officer, but she did not know his new location either.

The Archdiocese of Boston, facing a budgetary crisis, said yesterday that it will lay off seven administrative employees and eliminate four positions that are vacant. That will lower the number of archdiocesan employees to 281 from 367 in 2002. In a memo to employees yesterday, the archdiocese said employees will get an average 1.75 percent salary increase in the fiscal year that begins July 1, in a further effort to control costs. The budget crisis has largely been caused by a reduction in contributions from parishioners following the clergy abuse crisis.

A Marianist brother resigned as a campus minister at Chaminade College Preparatory School last week after an internal investigation into an allegation of sexual harassment of a student at a Texas high school in the 1980s.

A letter to Chaminade parents, faculty and staff said that Brother Tony Pistone would leave the school though the investigation found no evidence to substantiate the allegation and uncovered no other allegations of inappropriate behavior. The letter from the school's president and principals, dated May 4, also stated that no criminal or civil charges were filed. Pistone has denied the allegations.

Pistone, 70, had stepped down temporarily in March pending the results of the investigation by the provincial of the U.S. Marianist province, Brother Stephen Glodek.

Larry Joe Crocker, a Dallas pastor accused of molesting a boy from his church, was indicted Thursday on two felony charges of indecency with a child by contact.

Mr. Crocker, head minister of Lakeview Christian Church, was arrested March 16 at his Garland home and was released from jail after paying a $20,000 bond and about $1,000 in outstanding traffic tickets.

Mr. Crocker, 56, has denied the charges. His lawyer and regional Disciples of Christ representatives could not be reached for comment Thursday.

A representative of the Lakeview church of about 60 members said the indictments are the starting point in an investigation that will clear Mr. Crocker.

"This is the first step in the process when any kind of allegation occurs," said Brian Cook, a church trustee. "He is innocent."

ARLINGTON -- Two of the Agape Christian Fellowship elders named in a lawsuit that claims Bishop Terry Hornbuckle sexually assaulted three women have broken with the church.

The civil lawsuit contends that Eben and Sarah Conner and six other elders are partially responsible for Hornbuckle's actions because they hired him as senior pastor of Agape in Arlington.

The Conners and the other elders were represented by the same attorney. However, the Conners have hired a lawyer who filed court documents on their behalf last month asserting that any injuries to the women were caused "by the intervening criminal acts or act of Defendant Hornbuckle."

If the Conners, who have started their own church, are found liable, they want to be reimbursed by Hornbuckle, according to the court documents.

FORT WORTH - Bail for Bishop Terry Hornbuckle, who is accused of sexually assaulting three female parishioners, was revoked Wednesday after he tested positive for drugs.

Hornbuckle, senior pastor of Agape Christian Fellowship in Arlington, was arrested Wednesday while reporting to a probation officer in downtown Fort Worth, said Jim Sinclair, assistant director of Tarrant County probation.

"The urinalysis was submitted on the fourth of this month and the court was notified" Tuesday, Sinclair said. "A warrant was issued and he came in to make his regular report and was taken into custody in our office."

Hornbuckle, 43, was indicted in March on four charges of sexual assault and was released on $405,000 bail. In two of the cases, he is accused of using date-rape drugs to overpower the women.

After his initial arrest in March, authorities said they found a small amount of methamphetamine inside his Cadillac Escalade. Hornbuckle also faces a felony drug charge.

BELLINGHAM -- The parishioners he stood before for years at Our Lady of the Assumption parish voiced relief yesterday to see the Rev. Paul Desilets, who fought sex abuse charges for three years, sentenced to state prison.

"I'm just glad that it's all put behind us, especially for the families of the victims and the kids themselves," said longtime parishioner Charles Gerrior. "At least we're finished and we don't have to run after him anymore."

"I'm delighted it's over," agreed Margaret Tuttle, 75. "It's a bit of a relief. They are young men now, but they were just little boys. It's a relief for everyone in town, everyone in our parish."

Desilets, 81, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Worcester Superior Court to 32 charges of abusing 18 altar boys at the parish in Bellingham, where he served between 1974 and 1984.

KODIAK, Alaska - The Anchorage Archdiocese will have 20 days to respond to accusations that it failed to supervise and monitor a former Crookston diocesan priest who allegedly solicited sex from a man in exchange for a job on a church project in Alaska.

The accusations are against the Rev. Robert Bester, who after the allegations came to light a week ago, resigned as priest of Our Lady of Guadelupe Parish in Anchorage and left Alaska. He previously served in Kodiak beginning in 2001, and now is living with friends, an official of the Anchorage archdiocese said.

Bester served in several parishes in the Crookston diocese from 1979 to 1991, as well as being superintendent of schools in Warroad, Minn., and a principal in Red Lake Falls, Minn., during that time.

Bester is accused of soliciting sex last year from Fredrick May in exchange for a job on a church construction project in Anchorage.

A former pastor of St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church in Sylvania who was ousted from the denomination in 1977 and later switched affiliations to the Greek Orthodox Church, has been defrocked by that denomination also, officials said.

Gabriel Barrow, 59, of Houston, who was pastor of St. Elias from 1972 until 1977, was accused of sexually abusing three boys in Toledo in the 1970s.

Metropolitan Philip, leader of the 450,000-member U.S. Antiochian Orthodox Church, barred Mr. Barrow from the denomination on Oct. 10, 1977, citing "reasons beyond my control," but offering no further explanation.

After leaving Toledo, Mr. Barrow returned to his hometown of Houston and worked as a teacher in the Houston Independent School District.

During the mid-1990s, he was accepted into the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and served as a pastor in Webster, Texas.

A former Detroit resident who said he was 16 when Mr. Barrow molested him in Toledo in 1975 reported his allegations to the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese headquarters in 1998 and was told that Mr. Barrow had been removed from the ministry.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI named San Francisco Archbishop William Levada as the Vatican's chief orthodoxy watchdog on Friday, tapping an American conservative to fill one of the most powerful church offices, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Before his election as pope, Benedict held the office for more than 23 years, gaining a reputation as a hard-liner in defending church teaching. ...

In tapping an American, Benedict has put someone in charge of his old office who is deeply familiar with the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the American church. After the scandal erupted in 2002, John Paul decided that the issue should be handled by Ratzinger's congregation.

Benedict and Levada are old friends, and Levada met with the pope on May 3, fueling speculation that he was on the short list for the job.

A support group for victims of clergy sexual abuse has asked Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin to emulate his counterpart in Philadelphia by launching a grand jury investigation of the Catholic Diocese of Allentown.

The group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also wants Allentown Bishop Edward Cullen to release the names of all clergy members who have admitted molesting children or others ''who have been justifiably accused.''

Neither request seems likely to happen. In a statement, Martin said he has received no evidence to justify invoking ''the awesome power of an investigating grand jury.''

The diocese, meanwhile, said it has met its responsibilities by sharing names of accused priests with authorities and establishing programs to aid victims.

The abuse scandal in the Catholic Church erupted nationally in early 2002 when evidence emerged that, over the course of decades, thousands of priests and other clergy accused of abuse had been shuffled from parish to parish instead of being criminally charged. Eleven current and former priests from the Diocese of Allentown have been targeted in civil lawsuits claiming abuse.

At a news conference Thursday outside the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allentown, Survivors Network representatives said Martin could aid victims and prevent more abuse by letting the investigative body examine the ''alleged criminal conspiracy'' in the diocese.

Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham launched an ongoing grand jury probe of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia two years ago.

TRENTON — A boy in his teens who was sexually abused by a trusted priest tries to live with a haunting past. He heads off to the Navy. He weds, has children and buys a home — to find the abusive priest is his family's new neighbor.

Now the abused man and his wife must agonize about their own children and "that monster" just down the street.

That real-life story in Toledo, Ohio, set the scene Thursday when a state lawmaker, seeking to change state law to enable sex-abuse victims to sue more broadly, aired an award-winning documentary on how the cover-up of sex abuse drove one victim and his family into frightening distress.

The showing of the film "Twist of Faith" — a Sundance Film Festival and Academy Award nominee for best documentary — at the Statehouse gave a fresh face to the usual, dry endorsements and back-room deal-making that often mark the legislative process.

It didn't make much of an impact. In the first of two showings, no lawmakers attended, and only a half-dozen supporters of the measure were there. Even fewer appeared for the second viewing.

Friday, May 13, 2005
By JOHN ZUKOWSKI
The Express-Times
Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin rejected a request Thursday by a clergy abuse survivors group to investigate the Allentown Diocese.

Members of the Lehigh County chapter of SNAP -- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- asked Martin to launch a grand jury investigation into what the group called an "alleged criminal conspiracy" at the Allentown Diocese.

Martin said a grand jury is only properly empanelled when there's a reasonable possibility of crime. He said he had no evidence of criminal activity at the diocese.

"Therefore I have no present intention to ask a grand jury to investigate," Martin said in a statement. "I have a duty to only proceed in good faith. It would be improper to use the grand jury for a 'fishing expedition.' "

Martin said he's already investigated allegations of priest abuse at the Allentown Diocese.

In May 2002, Martin announced there were no diocese-related prosecutable cases in Lehigh County. He said he knew of no others since that time. He also advised SNAP members to report any current evidence of criminal activity and then action would follow.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego renewed an effort first made last year in federal court to declare unconstitutional a 2002 law that cleared the way for the hundreds of sexual-abuse cases facing dioceses around the state.

In a motion filed yesterday, the diocese said the law unfairly targets the church, exposing it to potential liability for sexual abuse by priests that other institutions – such as schools, juvenile detention facilities and other government entities – don't face.

The motion was filed in a case in which a woman contends she was molested as a child between 1975 and 1980 by a priest at St. Mary's Parish in Escondido.

The law in question lifted the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits alleging sexual abuse that occurred years ago. The San Diego diocese is facing about 100 suits filed under the law.

The arguments echo those made last year in a case involving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, and a Colorado man who said he was abused by a priest of that diocese. Some of the abuse was alleged to have occurred in San Diego while the priest and the youth were vacationing in the late 1960s. The suit was filed in San Diego to take advantage of the 2002 state law.

The Davenport diocese settled all the claims against it, including the one from the Colorado man, before a federal judge in San Diego could rule on the issue.

An Anchorage priest accused of sexual harassment has resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left Alaska, Catholic Archbishop Roger Schwietz said Thursday.

The Rev. Robert Bester resigned May 5, the day after a local television station began airing stories based on undercover recordings of the priest talking in explicitly sexual terms with Anchorage resident Fredrick D. May Jr.

May sued the archdiocese May 6 on the grounds that he's suffered extreme emotional distress over his encounters with Bester. He contends that Bester approached him last summer and offered him a job helping to build a new parish church. But within a day or so, the priest began asking for sexual favors from May, the suit says. When May refused, the priest told him there was no longer a job available, the suit says.

Schwietz put Bester on administrative leave May 4. That occurred the same day that Bester notified him of the allegation of sexual harassment and faxed him a partial transcript provided by Channel 11 of the undercover recording, before it aired.

Twist of Faith - the Academy Award-nominated Sundance hit about a Toledo firefighter and his fight with the Toledo Catholic Diocese - has an opening date:

June 28, at 10 p.m.

And you won't need to buy a movie ticket, either: It premieres on HBO, the cable network that produced and bankrolled the film in the first place, as part of its American Undercover series.

The documentary from Los Angeles filmmakers Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt never did get a theatrical deal - despite a pile of critical raves at the Sundance Film Festival and an Oscar nomination for best documentary.

Big-screen distribution, however, is not entirely off the table, Schmidt said. Two distribution companies are still interested and "there's a strong possibility the film will have a theatrical venue after its air date on HBO."

In the meantime, there is expected to be one local screening at the Maumee Indoor Theatre, probably the night before it airs on television. Schmidt, Dick, and the film's principle subject, Tony Comes, are expected to attend. The bad news: It will be invitation-only.

The film - which almost entirely unfolds in Toledo - recounts Comes' lawsuit against the Diocese for years of alleged rape and molestation by a Toledo priest in the early 1980s. The former priest, Dennis Gray, has denied the allegations. He left the priesthood in 1987. Sally Oberski, a spokeswoman for the Diocese, said they have still not seen the film but "whatever venue it gets shown, we hope by seeing the film, other victims gain the courage to come forward."

SHOHOLA TOWNSHIP, Pa- Although two priests were able to draw a walk on criminal charges because of Pennsylvania‘s “statute of limitations,” a civil settlement, along with a concession statement from the Scranton Diocese, has now effectively branded them guilty of sexually abusing a young boy in the name of “spiritual guidance.” The scene of the abuse, the former St. John’s property in Shohola Township, has been sold.

In the case of John Doe vs. the Diocese of Scranton, the Society of St. John, the Fraternity of St, Peter and Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity and Fr Eric Ensey (both founding members of St. Johns in Shohola ), the defendants have agreed to a settlement with the former student of St. Gregory’s Academy in Moscow who also spent time in Shohola.

According to John Doe’s attorney James Bendell, under the terms of the settlement the defendants will pay the plaintiff $255,000 in cash and future periodic payments of $199,550, for a total settlement of $454,550. He now lives in North Carolina.

Bendell said, “During the course of the litigation of this case, information was brought to light concerning the corruption existing at the Society of St. John, a clerical association approved by former bishop James Timlin, who allowed these priests to form a clerical association in the Diocese of Scranton and to act as chaplains at a boys’ prep school after they had been expelled from the Society of St. Pius X. The new bishop of Scranton, Joseph Martino, has since suppressed the Society of St. John.”

The Society of St. John in Shohola was “suppressed” by Scranton Bishop Joseph F. Martino back in November but the organization in Shohola has operated its web site, conducted fundraisers and held services since the suppression.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson will not allow a self-described "progressive" Catholic author to speak at a laity group meeting in a Jesuit retreat center in Morristown, saying she "contests the teachings of the Catholic Church."

But rather than disinvite Angela Bonavoglia, the 57-year-old author of "Good Catholic Girls: How Women are Leading the Fight to Change the Church," the group Voice of the Faithful has moved tonight's meeting to the nearby St. Mark's Lutheran Church on Harter Road.

Theresa Padavano, co-facilitator of the group's northern New Jersey chapter, said she was told Monday by the Rev. Charles Moutenot, director of Loyola Retreat Center, that diocese officials decided not to let Bonavoglia speak there because of her public support for women's ordination and abortion, which the church opposes.

Padavano criticized the decision: "We did not invite (Bonavoglia) to speak on either of those issues. We invited her to speak on her knowledge of reform groups as a whole, and on Voice of the Faithful in particular."

Her speech is titled "Catholic Women: Victims and Leaders." The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

May 12, 2005

THURLES, Ireland - A pedophile priest who served seven years in a California prison - and whose actions continue to haunt both victims and Roman Catholic leaders in America - lives quietly in this laid-back Irish town where residents are just becoming aware of his past.

Oliver O'Grady, 59, was removed from the priesthood and deported to Ireland in 2001 after completing his prison time for sexually abusing two boys, among more than 20 children he admits molesting during a 30-year career in the United States.

His case - one of many for the church in the United States and Ireland - has received continued attention for two reasons: He was once supervised by Cardinal Roger Mahony, now the archbishop of Los Angeles and, this week, a disturbing videotaped deposition surfaced in which O'Grady detailed how he would prey on children.

"'Come here, I want to give you a hug,'" he said at one point, demonstrating how he would approach a victim. "'You are a sweetheart, you know that. You are very special to me. I like you a lot.' She might respond, 'I like you, too.' That would allow me to give a better hug."

O'Grady was questioned in Ireland in March for a pending civil suit brought by an alleged sex abuse victim against the Stockton Diocese in California, claiming it failed to protect children from a known abuser.

Since 2003 he's been living in this Tipperary town by the River Suir, once one of Ireland's leading centers for exporting priests worldwide. The approximately 8,000 residents of Thurles found out more about their neighbor Thursday when The Irish Times, Ireland's newspaper of record, picked up American news reports about the deposition.

A support group for victims of clergy sexual abuse has asked Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin to emulate his counterpart in Philadelphia by launching a grand jury investigation of the Diocese of Allentown.

The group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also wants Allentown Bishop Edward Cullen to release the names of clergy members who have admitted to molesting children or others "who have been justifiably accused."

Martin said he investigated those clergy members three years ago and didn't find enough evidence to convene a grand jury. None of the priests were charged with a crime. Diocesan officials said they gave the names to law enforcement officials and cooperated fully with their investigation.

St. George's Diocese in Western Newfoundland will sell off some or all its churches to stave off bankruptcy and meet an expected $13-million settlement to the sexual abuse victims of one of its priests.

"Our hands are open," said Bishop Douglas Crosby in a May 6 news release. "We have offered everything we have. The future of this diocese and our ministry is now in the hands of those who have suffered the most."

"If we must go bankrupt, then we will do so, accepting our share in their suffering," he said.

On May 8, Crosby read a pastoral letter on the proposal at all Masses at the diocesan cathedral and asked that all celebrants of Masses in the diocese read it too.

"We know the proposal is fair and just," Crosby said. "We know that it represents all we are able to give."

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When the U.S. bishops meet in June, they will work to revise their "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" and the "Essential Norms" implementing the charter legislatively.

They will also be asked to approve spending up to $1 million from their reserve funds to fund a major study into the causes and context behind the decades of clergy sexual abuse of minors that exploded into a major church crisis in 2002.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets June 16-18 in Chicago.

The documents the bishops will be asked to revise and renew were originally adopted in 2002 with a projected two-year life span before review. That life span was extended when the bishops were not able to conduct the revisions at their November 2004 meeting.

Proposed revisions in the "Essential Norms" are few and limited in scope.

Sexually abused children would have more time to bring charges against their abusers under a bill that a House committee advanced Wednesday after emotional testimony from victims, dozens of whom attended the hearing.

House Bill 17 would extend the statute of limitations from 10 to 30 years after a child's 18th birthday. Supporters said the step would give victims more time to come to terms with coming forward.

Abuse victim John Connelly told the committee that he suffered at the hands of a relative for four years spanning from when he was 12 to when he got physically strong enough to fend off the attacker.

"I kept it to myself for years because I was embarrassed, ashamed, and I wanted to forget about it," Connelly said. "I thought I would take it to my grave."

It's too late for Connelly to bring charges, and even if HB17 passes, it won't be retroactive. The bill next heads to the House floor.

Many states have either extended the time to report sex crimes against children beyond what Louisiana now allows or have no statute of limitations at all, though each has its own sets of caveats, according to Stacie LeBlanc, director of Legal Advocacy for Children's Hospital in New Orleans.

The cash-strapped Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is considering significant changes in its expectations of senior priests that would encourage clergy to continue to work after they retire and require priests with financial assets to help pay for nursing-home or assisted-living care.

The archdiocese says that it remains committed to taking care of its clergy and that it will guarantee that no retired priests are without shelter, healthcare, or income. But the archdiocese says it must change benefits or risk running out of money in its pension fund.

The adjustments, which were circulated in a draft policy to all priests and are being discussed at meetings with clergy around the archdiocese, are being proposed as many private companies are eliminating or reducing pension benefits.

The archdiocese says it faces a $55 million unfunded liability in its pension fund for priests. Actuaries say that is the amount the archdiocese has promised to retirees, an amount that it does not have in the bank. The archdiocese attributes the problem to poor investment performance and longer average life span and says the shortfall is unrelated to the costs of settling abuse cases or closing parishes.

A civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Bethel Superior Court adds 12 new complainants alleging they were sexually abused as children by Roman Catholic clerics or volunteers.

Seven complainants, James Does 33 through 39, pushes the plaintiff count up to 39 against Joseph Lundowski, a former Trappist monk, now deceased.

Four women, Julia Does 1 through 4, are bringing suit against Anton Smario, a Franciscan friar, alleging that he molested them as children in the villages of St. Michael and Stebbins.

A fifth woman, Jean Doe 1, alleges the Rev. George Endal, a Jesuit priest now deceased, who supervised both Lundowski and Smario in western Alaska communities, sexually abused her over a three-year period.

Defendants named in the lawsuit are the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese, The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, and Alaska, the Catholic Archbishop of Anchorage, Anton Smario, and the Franciscan Friars of California.

The latter three defendants in Wednesday's filing are new additions. The amended lawsuit includes Smario, who now lives in California, and was a professed Franciscan friar of the third order of the Santa Barbara Province at the time of the alleged abuse.

WORCESTER -- After years of fighting prosecution, the Rev. Paul Desilets stood in a courtroom yesterday with seven former Bellingham altar boys and admitted to molesting them and several others in the 1970s and '80s.

"I'm sorry for what happened," Desilets said in Worcester Superior Court, after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting 18 altar boys at Bellingham's now-closed Our Lady of the Assumption Parish.

The 82-year-old Catholic priest offered the apology to Judge Timothy Hillman, but struggled to get the words out when he turned toward the men at Hillman's prodding.

Desilets pleaded guilty to six charges of assault and battery and 26 counts of indecent assault and battery.

On the recommendation of his attorneys and Worcester District Attorney John Conte's office, Hillman sentenced the priest to 1 to 1 1/2 years at MCI-Cedar Junction.

This runs concurrently with an additional sentence of a year in the House of Correction and will be followed by 10 years probation. The cleric had faced up to 10 years in state prison on each indecent assault and battery charge.

BELLINGHAM -- A retired Roman Catholic priest who was extradited from Canada to face sex abuse charges pleaded guilty on Wednesday to molesting 18 altar boys from Our Lady of Assumption Parish in south Bellingham and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The Rev. Paul Desilets -- now 82, diabetic and suffering from an illness caused by childhood polio -- admitted to 32 assault and battery charges resulting from a 4½-year-old Bellingham police case. Judge Timothy Hillman also sentenced the former Assumption assistant pastor to 10 years of probation following his release.

"Father Desilets did what he did to accept responsibility for his conduct," said his lawyer, Dennis Kelly. "It’s a sad day for everyone involved."

Desilets, who appeared weak and gaunt during his arraignment on April 25, was hospitalized a few days later, but officials would not say why. He returned to prison a week later, Kelly said.

Kelly said his client should be physically able to endure his prison sentence.

This is embarrassing. The Rev. Robert Bester, a Duluth native, is allegedly caught soliciting sex from an Alaskan man who tapes the conversation and hands it over to a TV station to air. It's a new twist (sex in exchange for church construction work?) that reignites clergy sexual abuse worries and raises questions about Bester's actions during his earlier career as a school superintendent and high school principal in Minnesota.

But before anyone jumps to conclusions, a little perspective is in order: The suspension of Bester, 75, by the Archdiocese of Alaska comes for allegedly soliciting sex from a grown man, not a child. Though that's hardly acceptable behavior for a priest, he hasn't been accused of any crime, and so far no one -- not former teaching colleagues nor students -- has publicly brought forth any evidence that he's ever broken the law. Significantly, Jeffrey Anderson, a Minneapolis lawyer who has represented scores of abuse victims, told the News Tribune's editorial page he'd previously never heard of Bester.

All that is important because even if the facts of the allegations are true (as those on tape tend to be), a rather pitiful offer of homosexual sex does not translate into proof of a dangerous pedophile on the loose. That's significant because too often during the priest abuse scandal the public bought into the stereotypical image of homosexual clergy preying on little boys, despite numerous studies showing sexual orientation has little to do with pedophilia and that heterosexuals are more likely to commit such crimes. Further, therapists estimate at least a third of priest sexual abuse victims are female.

The already messy situation of Bester, who is a priest of the Diocese of Crookston but served in Duluth at St. Mary's Hospital and on loan to the Archdiocese of Alaska, is complicated by his service as a hospital chaplain -- a position sometimes used by church leaders to harbor accused abusers -- and his traveling between church jurisdictions is another pattern seen among accused clergy. That Bester served in Duluth under then-Bishop Roger Schwietz, who later became his archbishop in Alaska, is also a curiosity. Yet counterbalancing those eyebrow-raising circumstances is his late entry, at 47, into priesthood, placing him among a group for whom there is little incidence of abuse.

(KCBS) The head of San Francisco's Roman Catholic Archdiocese could soon be given a promotion, which would call him to Rome. But that choice does not sit well with some clergy sex abuse survivors.

KCBS reporter Holly Quan says Archbishop William Levada worked with Pope Benedict XVI in the 1980s, and he was the first to receive a private audience with the pope after he was ordained.

Time Magazine now reports that Levada is the one expected to be tapped to take over the Pope's old job: Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican watchdog.

Dan McNevin with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said Archbishop Levada continues to ignore their pleas to "out" accused priests.

"I am concerned if this man is elevated to a position where he is in charge of worldwide doctrine and worldwide enforcement of sex abuse that nothing will really change and we'll be heading in a direction where secrecy instead of protection will be prioritized," McNevin said.

ASHTABULA COUNTY, Ohio -- An Ashtabula County woman made claims alleging misconduct in a local church just weeks before she was murdered.

In an affidavit, Carolyn Clark (pictured, left), a member of the Apostolic Faith Church, made disturbing accusations, claiming numerous incidents of abuse and cult-like behavior, NewsChannel5 reported.

Last Saturday, six weeks after Clark made those claims, police say the 43-year-old woman was beaten to death with a gun inside her apartment.

Police say that five of her 13 children were also inside the apartment. Police arrested her estranged husband, Ralph Clark (pictured below), and charged him with aggravated murder.

Days before her murder, the courts gave Carolyn Clark temporary custody of her under-age children, with the affidavit possibly playing a role in that decision.

In the document, Carolyn Clark said church members beat her with a belt, abused children, and engaged in sexual abuse.

The burned and stabbed body of Ronald Duane Bailey, 54, was found east of Oroville last spring.

Trial began Wednesday in the murder case against Kelly David Fredericksen, 27, who admits he killed Bailey.

The prosecution hopes to convict Fredericksen of first-degree murder and send him to prison for life. ...

In his opening statement Wednesday, Fredericksen's attorney, Denny Forland, told the jury his client had been molested by a church elder as a child and also had a "mental history" which affected his actions on the day of the killing.

In a videotaped confession following his arrest, Fredericksen said on the night of the slaying, Bailey came to his apartment to make a drug deal. At one point, Fredericksen said, he discovered Bailey standing over his 4-year old daughter's bed, watching the girl sleep.

Terry L. Hornbuckle, the Arlington pastor indicted on sexual-assault charges, was arrested Wednesday, accused of violating the terms of his bail, Tarrant County officials said.

A May 5 test found illegal drugs in Mr. Hornbuckle's system, Tarrant County probation officials said.

Mr. Hornbuckle was being held without bail Wednesday in the Tarrant County Jail.

Jim Sinclair, Tarrant County's assistant probation director, would not say what drug the test found. Police said they found methamphetamine and a glass pipe in Mr. Hornbuckle's car when he was first arrested in March.

"This is not uncommon," Mr. Sinclair said about the failed drug test. "The courts issue these warrants all the time."

The 43-year-old founder of Agape Christian Fellowship church in Arlington was arrested about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday while reporting to the county probation department in downtown Fort Worth.

FORT WORTH - Bishop Joseph Delaney, leader of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese since 1981, said he will take up issues of retirement with Pope Benedict XVI because of his failing health.

Delaney, 70, made the comments Wednesday in his first interview since the diocese recently agreed to pay $4.1 million to two men who sued, saying they were abused in the early 1990s by a priest Delaney appointed to a parish.

Delaney discussed his health and his reasons for settling the suit and for not releasing the names of other priests who have been accused of sexual abuse.

"The Holy Father, by now, knows of my illness," Delaney said in his first published interview with the Star-Telegram since November 2002. "I'm extraordinarily frustrated that I'm unable to fulfill my ministry," he said.

Delaney was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. His pancreas and parts of his spleen were removed, and Delaney said the cancer is in remission.

OTTAWA – The judge appointed to lead the public inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up in Cornwall has deep roots in the area, charge victims who have fought to get the examination.

Last month, Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant appointed Justice Normand Glaude to head up the long-awaited look into allegations that a ring of high-ranking officials, professionals and clergy sexually abused boys in the Cornwall area for decades.

The inquiry will examine how the justice system and other public institutions responded to the abuse allegations.

One of the reasons Bryant chose Glaude was because he's not from the Cornwall area. He was born in Sudbury, where he is currently the regional senior justice.

"No, I mean it was very important that the person involved not have any connection," Bryant said last month when he appointed Glaude. "He is from Sudbury and has been in Sudbury for some time now."

Bryant painted Glaude as an outsider, someone who would bring a "fresh perspective" to a troubled town.

But the attorney general didn't mention that Glaude's father was born in St. Raphaels, a few kilometres from Cornwall, nor that his grandparents were married in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall.

By now, everyone knows that the Roman Catholic Church lost a pope and gained a pope in recent weeks. Likewise, there are few who aren't aware of the public relations trouble the Catholic Church has been having in recent years-and not just long-running sociopolitical issues such as birth control and abortion, but also sexual abuse scandals and apparent concealment from high up, both globally and locally.

The bright spotlight of attention-with both genuine interest and schadenfreude-has raised questions about the direction and future of the Catholic Church. Public perception, from within the church and without, and the short- and long-term outlook of this powerful church are in question.

In the last 35 years, the church's demographic has drastically evolved. The largest percentage of the world's Catholics is in Latin America, the smallest in North America. The greatest increase in Catholic population in that time has been in Africa, which, while making up only 13 percent of the world's Catholics, has more than doubled its percentage in the past three decades. Numbers are up in that same period in Asia (at nearly 12 percent) and Latin America (43 percent), and down in Europe, Catholicism's traditional home turf.

According to Father Ronald Wekerle, vicar general for the Diocese of Idaho and pastor for St. Jerome's Parish in Jerome, numbers of Catholics in Idaho are holding and perhaps slightly increasing. As the population grows, Wekerle told BW, the percentages may decrease, but the numbers haven't. Last year, nearly 500 people were brought into the Catholic Church in Idaho, and as of 2004, the in-state congregation was 146,000 strong.

This past February, it came to light that Deacon Robert Howell, formerly a lay minister at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Northwest Boise, pled guilty last November to the charge of possession of child pornography (and received an 18-month prison sentence). What had St. Mary's parishioners upset was that the bishop of the Boise diocese, the Rev. Michael Patrick Driscoll, did not disclose Howell's crimes until nearly four months after the guilty plea. Predictably, Catholics in St. Mary's and beyond were angered at what they perceived as being kept in the dark.

Seeking to save money, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is proposing cuts in its pension benefits for priests.

The archdiocese says that its pension fund has had poor returns in recent years and has suffered from many of the same problems as corporate America's pension funds. Previously, however, officials have cited general financial strains stemming from the sexual abuse scandal and a resulting decline in contributions from churchgoers.

The archdiocese has begun holding meetings to inform priests of the proposed cuts. They include freezing monthly pension benefits at the current level, $1,889, rather than raising them with inflation, and asking some priests in some case to pick up more of their housing costs.

Medical benefits would also be reduced and linked to financial need for the first time. Able-bodied retired priests would be steered away from assisted-living quarters, which are expensive, and encouraged to stay in their parish rectories after retiring. Those who collect Social Security or have other assets, say, from a family inheritance, would have to dip into those funds to pay for assisted living and nursing home care that the archdiocese now provides.

An order that voided Missouri's indecent exposure law overlooked the facts of James Beine's conviction, the attorney general's office said Wednesday in asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider.

Beine, a St. Louis public school counselor, was not merely using a public urinal, the motion said, but "urinating in a circus-like manner" in an elementary school bathroom that adults did not generally use.

The high court overturned Beine's 2003 conviction on four counts of sexual misconduct involving a child by indecent exposure. In a 4-3 decision April 26, the majority found that the underlying law was so vague and broadly written that it could be construed as making it illegal to use a public restroom.

Unless that finding is reversed, Beine will be released from a 12-year prison sentence.

They called him Father Hands back then, the young boys of Bellingham who yesterday filled two rows in Room 204 of Worcester Superior Court.

They are adults now, some with families, all with memories of a predatory priest who stood before them yesterday a broken old man, sick and gaunt, telling a judge he remembered the faces of only half of the boys he sexually abused in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Sometimes I forget,” the Rev. Paul M. Desilets told Superior Court Judge Timothy Hillman, when asked if he was confused about any of the questions posed to him.

“You don’t remember the victims?” Judge Hillman asked.

“No,” the retired priest replied softly.

“You don’t remember any of them?”

The priest paused. “Some.”

Judge Hillman continued to probe, gently and painstakingly, in an effort to determine whether the 82-year-old priest was competent to plead guilty to 32 counts of sexual abuse involving 18 former altar boys.

“Is it that you don’t remember the individuals or you don’t remember the conduct?”

“I don’t remember the individuals.”

“Do you remember the conduct?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember some of them?” the judge asked. “How many?”

“It’s very difficult,” the priest replied.

It was very difficult, watching the wheels of justice spin circles around a defendant as old and as sick as Paul Desilets. When he shuffled into court, handcuffed and wearing a dark-blue prison jumper, he looked more like a survivor of Auschwitz than the perpetrator of crimes against children. His eyes were sunken and his chin was covered with thin white stubble. Mouth agape and head bowed, he could barely keep his eyes open on the witness stand and at one point Judge Hillman mouthed “Is he awake?” to the defendant’s lawyer, Dennis J. Kelly.

“Mr. Desilets, are you still with us?” Judge Hillman asked. As was his habit, the priest looked to his lawyer for prompting before saying yes.

He takes 10 medications a day, the names of which he can’t recall, the priest told the judge. He suffers from diabetes and the effects of childhood polio. On April 27, he was taken from the Worcester County Jail to an undisclosed area hospital, but was later returned to his cell. He was arraigned last month in a wheelchair via video feed from the jail.

The young boys from Bellingham are grown men now, but for them, time has stopped. They don’t see the priest as a frail old man who needed help from a court officer to negotiate the witness stand. Instead, they see the powerful priest who sexually abused them for years, before Mass and after funerals, in a room off the altar at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Bellingham. They see his smile. They hear his warning that they’d burn in hell if they told.

Unlike the Rev. Desilets, they remember everything.

“I just look past his infirmities and remember him the way he was — a big, mean, bullying man,” said James Corriveau, 37, one of two brothers who said they were abused by the priest for seven years, beginning at age 9. “We’ve been scarred forever by what he did. I don’t feel any pity for him.”

His brother, Brian Corriveau, said the boys never told on the priest but would talk among themselves and inquire: “Did you get attacked by Father Hands today?” It was only four years ago, after his uncle returned from a trip to Canada and said he had seen the priest, that Brian revealed the boys’ secrets. More victims came forward. In 2002, the Rev. Desilets was indicted by a Worcester grand jury and later arrested in Canada, where he was living in a retirement home in Quebec.

Yesterday, Judge Hillman sentenced the priest to 1 to 1-1/2 years in state prison. His lawyer, Mr. Kelly, told the judge that his client wanted to apologize for his behavior.

“I’m sorry for what happened,” the priest said softly.

“You might want to say that to the people in back of you, not to me,” Judge Hillman said.

So the Rev. Paul Desilets dutifully turned to the men in the first two rows, to the boys he remembered and the boys whose faces he can’t recall.

“I’m sorry for what happened,” he said again.

One of the men had tears in his eyes. The rest stared back at their now-feeble tormenter before filing silently out of the courtroom, engrossed in their private thoughts, no longer helpless against the priest they once called Father Hands.

“He haunted my dreams for years,” Brian Corriveau said. “As young boys, we never felt there was anything we could do. Now, something’s been done. I just can’t believe this day has actually come.”

Dianne Williamson can be reached by e-mail at dwilliamson@telegram.com.

WORCESTER— He could not recall the names or faces of all of the 18 men who have accused him of sexually assaulting them more than 20 years ago, when they were altar boys at Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Bellingham and he was the associate pastor.

But 82-year-old retired priest Paul M. Desilets said he did remember the unlawful conduct that led to the charges against him.

Rev. Desilets was sentenced to 1 to 1-1/2 years in state prison yesterday, after pleading guilty in Worcester Superior Court to 16 counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, 10 counts of indecent assault and battery and 6 counts of assault and battery.

In addition to imposing the prison sentence, Judge Timothy S. Hillman placed Rev. Desilets on probation for 10 years, to begin upon his release from custody. The sentence handed down was recommended by Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey T. Travers and Rev. Desilets’ lawyer, Dennis J. Kelly.

Gaunt, unshaven and reportedly in poor health, Rev. Desilets appeared to nod off at times during the court proceedings, prompting Judge Hillman to ask on more than one occasion if he was awake and understood what he was doing. Rev. Desilets responded affirmatively and his lawyer reassured the court that his client was fully cognizant of what was going on, despite being “a little tired.”

Rev. Desilets was indicted in 2002, and was extradited from Canada April 22 to face the sexual assault charges. He was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail after his return. While in custody, he was hospitalized, reportedly suffering from diabetes and the effects of childhood polio.

The offenses to which he pleaded guilty yesterday occurred from 1978 to 1984, while Rev. Desilets was assigned to the Bellingham parish. Mr. Travers said the 18 victims were sexually assaulted by Rev. Desilets “on or around church property.”

Had the case gone to trial, Mr. Travers told the judge, the victims would have testified that Rev. Desilets sexually assaulted them by touching their buttocks and genitals, either over or under their clothing. The prosecutor said the victims, who were identified only by their initials and dates of birth, did not consent to the priest’s sexual advances.

Several of the victims were in court yesterday. One read from a poem titled “The Betrayal,” that he said he had written and dedicated to the survivors of clergy sexual abuse. “You’ve shattered young lives at the cost of your soul … This is something even the angels can never forgive.”

Another victim read from an impact statement in which he decried what he said was the “great injustice” he had suffered at the hands of Rev. Desilets and the Catholic church. “I have lost faith in the Catholic church, but I have not lost faith in God.”

In urging Judge Hillman to adopt the sentence he and Mr. Travers had proposed, Mr. Kelly said his client wished to accept responsibility for his misconduct. Mr. Kelly said there have been no similar allegations against Rev. Desilets since his move to Canada in 1985.

Rev. Desilets also apologized to the court and to his victims, saying in a barely audible voice, “I’m sorry for what happened.”

One victim later said the apology meant little to him and that he felt no sense of closure from Rev. Desilets’ guilty pleas.

“I have a lot of empathy for old people, but for him I have no empathy. He’s been haunting my dreams for years,” said another victim. He said he was 9 years old when he was first molested by Rev. Desilets.

Rev. Desilets was given credit for 17 days he spent in custody while his case was pending. As conditions of probation, he was ordered to have no contact with the victims, and no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender and to undergo any sex-offender counseling deemed appropriate by the Probation Department.

David Clohessy of St. Louis, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abuse by Priests, lauded the efforts made by law enforcement to extradite Rev. Desilets. “We also hope that this move will inspire other prosecutors to more aggressively seek the extradition of dozens of other proven, admitted and credibly accused abusive priests who have fled the country.”

Mr. Clohessy said the organization, which supports and advocates for victims of clergy abuse, is grateful that Rev. Desilets pleaded guilty, “and hopes this provides some comfort and consolation to his victims and their families.”

The director, who is also a clergy abuse survivor, said they hope that other alleged victims of Rev. Desilets come forward “and get the healing they need and deserve.”

He said there is no “magic age” when a serial predator stops molesting minors. He urged people to “remain vigilant” around the priest. “Even very elderly molesters have been caught hurting children.”

Kathleen A. Shaw of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report

Article published on Wednesday, May 11th, 2005
By JAN DANELSKI
Mirror Writer

Once they receive formal notice, the Anchorage Archdiocese will have 20 days to respond to charges it failed to “supervise and monitor” Father Robert Bester, priest of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Anchorage and a former priest St. Mary’s Parish in Kodiak, who allegedly solicited sex from Fredrick May in exchange for a job on a church construction project.

The formal complaint was mailed from the offices of Josephson and Associates on May 9. Church officials have not received notice of the lawsuit, Sister Charlotte Davenport, from the Archdiocese, said early this morning.

May, through his attorney Joe Josephson, alleges the Archdiocese knew, or should have known, that Bester “was a troubled individual with a proclivity for sexual misconduct.”

May’s complaint alleges Bester’s conduct caused him “emotional pain and suffering and distress,” and May is asking the court to award him the cost of therapeutic services, attorney fees and any other compensation the court may see fit.

SAN FRANCISCO— A former priest who was deported after serving time for child molestation revealed disturbing details of his attraction to children when lawyers traveled to his village in Ireland for a two-day deposition.

Former priest Oliver O'Grady was questioned in March in a pending civil suit brought by an alleged sex abuse victim against the Stockton diocese, claiming it failed to protect children from a known abuser.

The deposition was filed Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court by plaintiffs seeking to oppose a motion by the diocese to dismiss the suit. Trial is set for June.

O'Grady, 59, served seven years in a California prison for molesting two brothers while he was a parish priest. He was later removed from the priesthood and deported to Ireland, where he's lived since 2001. He admits molesting as many as 30 children.

Attorney General Jay Nixon has formally asked the State Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to overturn the conviction of former Catholic priest and former St. Louis elementary school counselor James Beine on charges he exposed himself to students. Last month, in a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the portion of the sexual misconduct law under which Beine was convicted was unconstitutional.

Sometime in the coming months, Michael Fortin will have a big decision to make.

Propelled by last week's Maine Supreme Judicial Court decision that clears a path through the legal thicket so he can sue the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Fortin can have his day in court and watch everyone from former Bishop Joseph Gerry on down explain how one of their priests - the Rev. Raymond Melville - managed to get his hands on Fortin 20 years ago at St. Mary's Parish in Augusta.

Or Fortin can accept an all-but-certain settlement offer from the diocese, declare victory over the church's circle-the-wagons legal strategists and, at long last, get on with his life. His legacy would remain intact: Without Fortin, the diocese would still be lawsuit-proof thanks to a 1997 court ruling (in a nonsexual case involving a priest and a married couple) that protected it from being held accountable for the actions of its pedophile priests.

"The impetus behind this suit was to change the law," said Sumner Lipman, Fortin's attorney. "If a reasonable settlement is made, I don't think because of (Fortin's) desire for a trial that he's going to turn it down."

Meaning it's too soon to tell whether Gerry, now in retirement at St. Anselm's College in Manchester, N.H., will have to come back to Kennebec Superior Court in Augusta, raise his right hand and start answering questions that have yet to be asked in open court anywhere in Maine about what he knew, when he knew it and, most importantly, what he did or didn't do about it.

A former prison chaplain accused of sexually abusing boys more than two decades ago intends to invoke doctor-patient and clergy-penitent confidentiality laws to resist answering some questions during a sworn deposition scheduled for next week.

In a motion filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the lawyer for one of the alleged victims says the Rev. Michael Sprauer plan to use the doctor-patient law in response to questions about any diagnosis or treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as any treatment he may have received for "sexual disorders or deviant behavior."

Moreover, the Roman Catholic priest intends to invoke the clergy-penitent privilege for anything reported in confidence to another clergyman about allegations of sexual abuse, according to a filing by attorney Erin K. Olson that was reported by The Oregonian in its Wednesday editions.

Sprauer, a former prison chaplain at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, has denied the accusations by 17 men who say Sprauer molested them in the 1970s.

In the motion, Olson's client asks Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris to rule on whether Sprauer should be allowed to assert the two privileges during the deposition.

The deposition is one of many taking place prior to Aug. 8, when the first batch of cases against Sprauer, and other priests and employees of the Archdiocese of Portland are scheduled to go to mediation.

THE Oblate order, which ran Daingean Reformatory School, has refused to admit that sexual or physical abuse occurred there prior to its closure in 1973.

The order was presenting evidence about the school to the Commission on Child Abuse yesterday. It insisted that it is up to the commission to decide the truth of the allegations of sexual and physical abuse made against members of staff at the reform school, known as St Conleth's.

Fr Michael Hughes, testifying on behalf of the Oblates, refused to describe beatings on the bare buttocks with a strap as 'abuse', and would not concede that sexual abuse had occurred at St Conleth's, again saying it was up to the commission to decide this.

St Conleth's was based at Daingean, Co Offaly, and was the State's main reformatory school for boys.

Fr Hughes, under intense cross-examination about physical punishment at Daingean, admitted that strapping of the bare buttocks of boys had occurred. However, he said it was carried out "in good faith" and that people at the time "didn't think it was abuse".

ASSEMBLYWOMAN Fran Pavley's AB1700 is the type of legislation that would pass overwhelmingly if politicians were convinced their constituents were paying attention to this one. But with hundreds of bills moving in the pipeline -- and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dominating the spotlight these days -- Pavley's bill may be in real danger of getting killed by corporate lobbyists who are trying to protect their clients' ability to include sweeping confidentiality clauses in lawsuit settlements.

Pavley, an Agoura Hills Democrat, has authored the latest attempt to prohibit settlements that conceal a potential danger to the public -- such as a defective product, the presence of toxic waste or child molestation.

The argument for AB1700 is straightforward and compelling: The public's right to know about an enduring threat to our health and safety should override a defendant's right to make a lawsuit go away quietly.

There is a long and shameful list of secret settlements that left the public unaware of serious danger -- and resulted in more victims. For example:

-- Firestone tires. One of the most infamous examples of secret settlements, the problems with defective Firestone tires were kept quiet for years, even as the casualty count reached 150 deaths and 500 injuries. Some 6. 5 million tires were ultimately recalled in 2000.

-- Abusive priests. The Catholic Church routinely demanded -- and received -- confidentiality clauses as a condition of settlements of lawsuits against hundreds of priests who abused children and continued to serve in recent decades.

By Gary Grado, Tribune
A national victims support group wants Valley church and law enforcement leaders to keep trying to have three priests charged with molesting children returned to Arizona for trial.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests made the request in letters Monday to Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.

"We just want to make sure this doesn’t get forgotten about," said Paul Pfaffenberger of Gilbert, SNAP’s local leader.

Thomas spokesman Bill FitzGerald said the county attorney is seeking extradition of the three priests, but the matter is now in the hands of the U.S. State Department.

Diocese spokeswoman Mary Jo West said Olmsted has also done everything within canon law to get the three priests to return.

We have new information about the efforts to bring a fugitive priest back to the valley to face trial.. It involves Father Patrick Colleary, a catholic priest accused of sexual conduct with a minor. Colleary is in Ireland now fighting extradition and, according to this letter from the irish court, obtained by the 5-I Team just this afternoon.. The accused priest may not be headed back any time soon.

Father Patrick Colleary was released from jail back in 2003. Shortly after that, Colleary returned to his home in ireland. The 5-I Team tracked him down to the family farm where his brother told us the family had concerns about the way the priest would be treated here in Arizona.

The letter from the Chief State Solicitor in Dublin echoes those concerns. It says Colleary is asking for a "permanent prohibition on extradition...due to alleged cruel, inhuman, and unconstitutional conditions...in particular in Maricopa County." The chief solicitor brings up Sheriff Joe Arpaio's policy of making inmates wear pink underwear. And it criticizes the recent transfer of inmates from the old Madison Street Jail to the new jail. During that transfer the inmates were kept in their underwear in the streets of downtown Phoenix. This apparently was played up in the Irish media.

NORTH GREENBUSH - The former town supervisor who allegedly threatened the life of local attorney John Aretakis was sternly greeted in Town Court Tuesday by a wave of supporters of the lawyer who represents alleged victims of clergy sex abuse.

Late last month, Troy resident Daniel Borden was arrested on harassment charges stemming from an alleged threatening phone call made to Aretakis demanding he stop slamming the Roman Catholic Church with allegations of clergy sex abuse.
North Greenbush police have already confirmed it was Borden's voice caught on Aretakis' answering machine, which the lawyer provided to the media.
"I'm sick and tired of you bashing the (expletive) out of the Catholic church ... If you ever say to me what you said, John, you are going to be spending some time in (a) medical facility," Borden allegedly said.
More than a dozen members of the local chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) attended Borden's hearing Tuesday eveningto show support to Aretakis and his family.

For more than three years, a Catholic priest has refused to leave his native Ireland to face two counts of felony sexual conduct with a minor in Arizona.

On April 22, the High Court of Ireland was going to rule on whether to extradite the Rev. Patrick Colleary to Phoenix.

But that morning, according to Colleary's lawyer, a Dublin cabdriver showed a government attorney riding in his cab newspaper photos of jail inmates dressed in pink underwear and flip-flops being paraded in pink handcuffs down a Phoenix street.

It took a week for the photos to reach Ireland of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's much advertised April 15 migration, when about 700 nearly nude prisoners walked the block from the old Madison Street Jail to the new Fourth Avenue Jail. But it took just moments for that photo to derail years of negotiation on the extradition.

On Tuesday, a letter from the Irish Chief State Solicitor's Office arrived at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office - via the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C. - asking prosecutors there to explain the apparent discrepancies between the photographed pink-underwear odyssey and earlier affidavits saying that the underwear was always worn under jail uniforms and was not intended as a form of humiliation.

The County Attorney's Office replied with its own condemnation of the pink parade, questioning "whether there were necessary security or penological interests requiring the mass disrobing of inmates before they entered the new jail," and stating its own regrets.

FREMONT — Allegations that the late Monsignor Vincent Ignatius Breen molested children while at Holy Spirit Catholic Church were affirmed publicly for the first time Tuesday when the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland asked for pardon among parishioners.

Bishop Allen Vigneron spoke before about 100 people at the church, begging forgiveness for failures of the parish and diocese to act on reports of misconduct. He also offered support to victims.

"In particular, I come to this church tonight to apologize for the betrayal of your trust by the parish priest, Vincent Breen," Vigneron said.

And to the victims, he said: "I affirm that the shame you feel belongs elsewhere — on the shoulders of the abuser."

A police investigation in 1981 found Breen molested at least eight girls, ages 7 to 14. The acts included fondling, French kissing and digital penetration. Breen, who was forced to retire and leave the area to avoid criminal charges, died in 1986.

While some believe Breen — who was assigned to Holy Spirit for 29 years — might have molested 100 or more girls, other members of the church maintain he is innocent.

MESA, Ariz. -- Maricopa County authorities are trying to find another jail to house a suspected pedophile priest if he's returned to Arizona from Ireland to stand trial.

The Irish government says it's concerned that the Rev. Patrick Colleary, former associate pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Scottsdale, would be mistreated in a county jail.

An Irish judge was going to decide April 22 whether Colleary was to be returned to Arizona. But the proceedings were stopped after news articles about inmates at the Maricopa County jail appeared in a London newspaper.

On April 15, county Sheriff Joe Arpaio had 700 inmates move from old jails to new ones, clad only in pink underwear and flip-flops.

A former Noblesville youth pastor faces sexual misconduct charges after allegedly having a relationship with an underage girl from the church.

Bradley Storer, 36, Indianapolis, a former assistant pastor at Faith Community Church, turned himself in Friday at the Hamilton County Jail, police said.

The reported abuse is said to have begun more than six years ago, when the girl was 14, said Noblesville Police Detective Mike Sadler.

Earlier this year, Storer's wife found on the computer instant messages exchanged between Storer and the female, who is now 20, Sadler said. The wife alerted authorities to the relationship, which apparently ended when the youth was 19, Sadler said.

Storer is charged with having a sexual relationship during the two years the girl was underage.

"The age of consent is 16," Sadler said. "Anything under 16 would be a crime."

EAST LONGMEADOW - A newly organized affiliate of the Voice of the Faithful in East Longmeadow plans to push for passage of legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations on sex crimes against minors.

"We don't want to focus on meetings, but activities. We want to be active," said John M. Bowen, a Longmeadow resident and a parishioner of St. Michael Parish in East Longmeadow.

Bowen, one of about six core organizers of the new affiliate, said the group will concentrate on one issue at a time.

"We don't want to try to do too much and spread ourselves thin. What we do we want to do well," Bowen said.

The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a bill that would eliminate the 15-year statute of limitations. It would not be retroactive.

However, if the bill becomes law, it means that sex crimes against children that go back no more than 15 years from the date the bill becomes law would be prosecutable forever.

Attorneys for a State College man and St. Vincent Archabbey have reached a settlement that ends one family's public dispute with the Roman Catholic Church over decades-old allegations of abuse.

John Morrison filed suit in February 2004 against the archabbey, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Bishop Joseph V. Adamec, former Bishop James Hogan, and the head of St. Vincent Archabbey, Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki. The suit sought an unspecified amount in excess of $30,000 for alleged sexual molestation by the Rev. Alvin T. Downey, a monk of St. Vincent and a psychiatric nurse.

Downey was appointed in 1980 to serve as pastor of Morrison's home church, St. John the Evangelist, in Bellefonte, by the archabbey and the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese to substitute for a vacationing priest.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but were not sealed. Morrison's attorney, Helen R. Kotler, of Pittsburgh, said Morrison declined to disclose the terms.

"These are very emotional and stressful cases for the plaintiffs. They bring back memories of things they'd rather not revisit," Kotler said.

James Beine, citing fear of harm, will remain in prison rather than accept release on bond on charges of exposing his genitals to students at the St. Louis public school where he was a counselor, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The lawyer, Lawrence Fleming, attributed the decision to prosecutors, victims' advocates and even the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Louis, who all are working publicly to seek additional charges against the long-suspended priest.

Unless they succeed, it appears that Beine eventually will be freed outright by a 4-3 decision of the Missouri Supreme Court on April 26 that said the sexual misconduct law under which he was convicted was unconstitutionally broad. Attorney General Jay Nixon's office has until the end of business today to file for a reconsideration. A spokesman said he would.

Last week, the court said Beine, most recently of Highland, can go free sooner if he posts a $5,000 bond and agrees to home detention. Beine, also known as Mar James, had been convicted on a federal child pornography possession charge, but a different appeals court previously overturned that, saying evidence was improperly seized. Advertisement

A former prison chaplain accused of sexually abusing boys more than two decades ago intends to invoke doctor-patient and clergy-penitent confidentiality laws to resist answering some questions during a sworn deposition scheduled for next week.

In a motion filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the lawyer for one of the alleged victims says the Rev. Michael Sprauer plan to use the doctor-patient law in response to questions about any diagnosis or treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as any treatment he may have received for "sexual disorders or deviant behavior."

Moreover, the Roman Catholic priest intends to invoke the clergy-penitent privilege for anything reported in confidence to another clergyman about allegations of sexual abuse, according to a filing by attorney Erin K. Olson that was reported by The Oregonian in its Wednesday editions.

Sprauer, a former prison chaplain at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, has denied the accusations by 17 men who say Sprauer molested them in the 1970s.

In a chillingly frank account, a former Roman Catholic priest, promoted 20 years ago by Roger M. Mahony, recently described his decades-long career as a pedophile, including his sexual tastes and how he groomed his young victims for abuse.

In a 15-hour videotaped deposition in March, Oliver O'Grady described how his heart raced when one of the slim, playful boys he preferred toweled off after a swim. He also said he liked to lift little girls' skirts and peek at their underpants.

Asked to demonstrate how he would lure one of his estimated 25 victims into his arms, the 59-year-old Irish native softened his voice, flashed an avuncular smile and looked directly into the video camera.

"Hi, Sally," O'Grady improvised. "How are you doing? Come here. I want to give you a hug. You are a sweetheart. You know that. You are very special to me. I like you a lot."

If his hug met no resistance, O'Grady testified, he would take the child's compliance as "permission" to molest.

San Francisco Archbishop William Levada is the new pope's leading candidate to become the chief doctrinal watchdog for the 1.1 billion member Roman Catholic Church, according to Vatican sources and several media reports.

The Chronicle reported on May 4, the day after Levada became the first U. S. bishop to have a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI , that the pontiff was considering the San Francisco prelate for the head of the Vatican Congregation to the Doctrine of the Faith.

Now, Time magazine reports on its Web site that a "senior Vatican official" says the Levada appointment is "a done deal." ...

Palmo noted that Levada has extensive experience dealing with the sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. church.

"He has on-the-ground experience in the United States," Palmo said. "That is priceless."

The Levada appointment, if confirmed, would have a major impact on the Catholic Church in the United States and the Bay Area.

For years, many American Catholics have complained that the Vatican does not understand the 65 million-member U.S. church.

May 10, 2005

ST. LOUIS - A defrocked priest whose sexual misconduct conviction was thrown out wants to stay behind bars for fear he will be a "sitting duck" to vigilantes, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The Missouri Supreme Court last Friday ordered James Beine freed after tossing out his conviction on charges he exposed himself to boys in an elementary school restroom. The court ruled Missouri's sexual misconduct law is too broad.

Prosecutors plan to challenge the ruling. In the meantime, Beine, 63, can leave prison under house arrest.

But "he's afraid now there could be a lot of people out there who believe it's their duty to take some action," said his attorney Larry Fleming. "He worries that the condition of his bond is home confinement, and that would make him a sitting duck."

A former Noblesville youth pastor faces sexual misconduct charges after allegedly having a relationship with a girl from the church.

Bradley Storer, 36, of Indianapolis, a former assistant pastor at Faith Community Church in Noblesville, turned himself into the Hamilton County Jail on Friday.

The reported abuse occurred more than six years ago, when the girl was 14, said Noblesville Police Det. Mike Sadler.

Earlier this year, Storer’s wife found instant messages from Storer and the girl, who is now 20, Sadler said. The wife alerted police to the relationship, Sadler said, which apparently ended when the girl was 19.

SALEM — Things may never be the same for the Rev. Edward Keohan, who spent 17 months in priestly limbo waiting for Archbishop Sean O'Malley to clear him of a sexual abuse allegation. But, slowly, the pieces are falling back together.

Keohan, 73, was exonerated and reinstated to active ministry last month. Two weeks ago, he accepted an assignment as senior priest in residence at Immaculate Conception Church.

It is a homecoming of sorts for Keohan (pronounced Cue-an). Even though his last assignment was at Our Lady of Lourdes in Revere, he spent more than 15 years (1987-2003) as administrator of the former St. Mary's Italian Church in Salem.

He also is good friends with the Rev. Timothy Murphy, pastor of Immaculate Conception. Murphy was with him that night in January 2003 — Keohan's 70th birthday — when news of the charge hit the media. Murphy has stood by his friend ever since.

10 May 2005
A parish priest today slammed "untruths and lies" surrounding a collection for a curate accused of sexual assault.

Fr Andrew McCloskey took leave of absence from St Patrick's church in Dungiven earlier this year after it emerged that £19,000 was awarded in an out of court settlement following an allegation that he assaulted an 18-year-old in 1992.

It then emerged last week that parishioners had invited Fr McCloskey back to present him with the proceeds of a collection held on his behalf.

Over 2,000 churchgoers had already signed a petition of support for the clergyman.

However the presentation, to be held at St Canice's Hall was cancelled after media claims that the collection amounted to a five figure sum - which caused outrage among survivors of sexual abuse and support groups for victims of abuse.

HAMPTON - Gordon MacRae, a former priest at the Our Lady of the Miraculous Church who was found guilty more than 10 years ago of sexually assaulting boys, is trying again to get an appeal.

MacRae, currently serving 33½-67 years in prison, is being aided in his effort by Nashville, Tenn., lawyer Ted Carey.

Carey said he intends to file an appeal to MacRae’s conviction and prison sentence in state and federal courts.

MacRae was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Keene boy in 1994. He pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three other boys - two of whom were the brothers of the first victim and the third was from Hampton.

The assaults against the 15-year-old took place during "pastoral counseling" sessions MacRae conducted with the victim while serving as a priest at St. Bernard’s Parish in Keene.

Bishop Richard Malone is urging victims of sexual abuse within Maine's Catholic Church to participate in a national online questionnaire.

Church officials hope the confidential form, posted online until Wednesday, will help the clergy in Maine respond to past victims and prevent future abuse. The site was created by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and represents the first clearinghouse of its kind for survivors of sex abuse.

"They are trying to figure out the scope and the context and what makes this happen," said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

"People can go into this site and be completely honest," Bernard said. "A lot of people have already told their stories, but a lot of people may not have."

The chancellor's office at the diocese in Portland also is prepared to receive complaints, she added.

On the Web site - www.victim-outreach.com - victims are asked several times not to identify themselves, their abusers or dioceses. They are directed instead to report abuse to law enforcement agencies and to seek help through their churches.

Police arrested a 31-year-old man in Attica yesterday on suspicion of raping three young girls in his house after drugging them and then videotaping the incidents.

The suspect, an Egyptian national who was not named, is thought to have raped the three children, aged between 6 and 9, some 18 months ago at his summer home in the village of Tolo in the Peloponnese. The girls, who were vacationing in his house, are alleged to have been daughters of couples with whom he was acquainted.

Meanwhile, an archimandrite in Rhodes was yesterday charged with sexually molesting three girls aged between 7 and 11. The incident is alleged to have happened on Good Friday. The bishop of Rhodes suspended the unnamed priest last week. The archimandrite denied the charges and claimed they had been fabricated to punish him because he would not allow encroachment on Church land.

A man who lived most of his life in northern Minnesota, much of it as a Catholic priest and as an educator, was removed this week from a parish in Alaska after a man alleged the priest solicited sex from him in return for giving him construction work at the church.

The Archdiocese of Anchorage announced that the Rev. Robert Bester, about 75, reported to his superiors that a man had accused him of inappropriate behavior, according to the Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror.

Bester was born in Duluth and spent part of his career here in the late 1990s as the hospital priest for St. Mary's Medical Center.

On Wednesday, Bester was put on leave from the Alaska parish while a church panel investigates the allegations. Two days later, the alleged victim served the Alaskan archdiocese with a lawsuit.

The accuser, Fred May, cooperated with a local television station in Anchorage in taping conversations secretly with Bester in which the priest talked about graphic sexual acts. He also spoke of being "Dracula," and of engaging in "combat" with angels.

A Scott County jury awarded damages of almost $1.9 million Monday in a civil lawsuit against former priest James Janssen, finding that he abused his nephew while serving as a priest with the Catholic Diocese of Davenport.

The unanimous verdict came after about four hours of deliberations, with jurors concluding that James Wells, 56, of Bettendorf, should collect damages from his uncle for nine years of sexual abuse that ended in 1962 despite filing his lawsuit more than 40 years later.

The jury awarded $1.26 million to Wells in compensatory damages for medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of wages and loss of function of mind or body, along with $632,000 in punitive damages for “willful and wanton disregard for the rights or safety of another.”

Wells thanked each juror, shaking hands as they walked out of the courtroom, before turning and hugging his attorney, Craig Levien.

“I’m very happy,” Wells said after the verdict was read. “It took me years to get this far, and I was able to do it for those who can’t.”

Editor’s Note: The author wishes it to be known that while he did not have direct contact with the Legion regarding the Maciel case, he was employed in a capacity in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s that brought him in intimate contact with members of the Legion of Christ’s lay movement, Regnum Christi, and has been familiar with the accusations detailed below for some time—both as matters reported in the press, and as matters discussed among members of Regnum Christi and responded to by the Legion itself.

The elevation of Cardinal Ratzinger to the Pontificate of the Roman Catholic Church ended much speculation following Pope John Paul the Great’s death regarding what direction the Church would take in this first part of the 21st century. Many pundits clamored in the media for a Pope more open to the “spirit” of Vatican II on issues such as homosexuality, contraception, abortion, and the role of women in the Church. Conservatives hoped for, and got, a Pope who would continue the conservative line etched out by John Paul II. Liberal Catholics hoped for and were disappointed not to get a Pope who would steer the Church toward recognition of the great secular themes of modernity.

Another group—smaller and more intensely interested for different reasons—spent the short inter-regnum anxious that the Church would not only continue but intensify its investigations of priestly sexual abuse in the U.S. and around the world. This group’s interest in the new Pope centered upon the cover-up of the scandal in the U.S. and elsewhere and the Vatican’s slow response to the burgeoning problem. For as much as many of the victims and their families might have loved the Church and Pope John Paul II, their criticism centered on the fact that the Church was negligent or abusive, if not criminal, in its response and/or lack of response to the reality of abuse that they contend has been ongoing for quite sometime.

Cardinal Ratzinger himself, as head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly known as the Inquisition), was a key player in the Vatican’s response to the crisis as it emerged in the United States. While the American Bishops, for instance, finally responded under pressure from lay Catholics and the media to address the problem by drafting policies calling for the removal from ministry of any priest even accused of abuse until such a time that the accusations can be proved to be true or false, the Vatican did not adopt similar policies—although it approved the American Bishops’ policy.

The Diocese of Scranton will pay more than half of a $380,000 settlement to end a sexual abuse lawsuit brought by a former St. Gregory's Academy student, and Bishop Joseph F. Martino will offer a personal apology, according to attorneys for the parties.

The bishop's gesture, while not a written stipulation of the settlement, stands as "a factor in the overall resolution of the claim," said Carbondale Attorney Harry T. Coleman, who alongside Washington-state Attorney James Bendell represented the young man who filed suit against two Society of St. John priests.

In the March 2002 civil suit, the young man, identified as John Doe, accused the Revs. Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey of molestation, beginning on his 17th birthday in May 1998. John Doe, now in his early 20s, lives in North Carolina.

"They're happy to bring this to an end, to have Bishop Martino make that gesture of good will was extremely well received by them," Coleman said of Doe's family, adding that the diocese volunteered to offer an apology. "To this family, who are devout Catholics, that is more important than any monetary amount."

Whether Bishop Martino would travel to North Carolina remained undetermined Friday.

A few dozen victims and people claiming to be victims of clergy sexual abuse from throughout Southern California plan to travel to Los Angeles tonight to watch a film dramatizing the scandal that whipsawed the Catholic Church in America.

"Our Fathers,' which stars Ted Danson, Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy, is to be shown to an invitation-only audience at the Directors Guild of America Theatre. Showtime is scheduled to air the full-length film for subscribers at 8 p.m. May 21.

"Even going to something like this for some of us can take a lot of courage,' said Mary Grant, western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The film focuses on how the scandal shook Boston. It shows how straight-A students and altar boys became drug addicts, suffered emotional disorders, lost their faith and even committed suicide.

May 10, 2005
FORMER governor-general Peter Hollingworth has revealed he remains "on the edge" with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after his controversial resignation from the post two years ago.

Dr Hollingworth also says he can understand why people commit suicide, although he has never contemplated it himself.

He remains on medication for depression, but is gradually reducing the dose.

"I am pretty close to the edge ... I know about the black dog (depression)," Dr Hollingworth has told The Bulletin magazine.

"I also know that you can't let it get on your back because it will bring you down."

The candid interview with the magazine, to be published tomorrow, is one of only a few times Dr Hollingworth has spoken publicly about his resignation on May 25, 2003.

He was forced to resign after he was accused of being involved in a cover-up of child sex abuse in the Anglican Church in Queensland during his 11 years as Archbishop of Brisbane.

Local parishes trying to escape the shadow of distrust and contempt cast three years ago when the clergy sex-abuse scandal erupted now confront a fresh challenge a made-for-cable movie.

Showtime will air a full-length film May 21 that dramatizes how the Archdiocese of Boston protected pedophile priests. "Our Fathers' is expected to resonate with Catholics across the country.

In February, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reported 12,000 individuals have accused more than 5,000 priests of abuse dating back to 1950. At least 40 priests worked in the two-county area that became the Diocese of San Bernardino. The local diocese formed in 1978 from the Diocese of San Diego and includes San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Local Catholic officials insist "some good has to come' from the clergy sex-abuse scandal.

"And something good is coming out of this,' said the Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the Diocese of San Bernardino. "We are becoming a holier and healthier church and are being known and trusted again as a church that both preaches and lives our Catholic faith.'

A Spokane, Wash., judge will hear arguments in June on one of the most basic, highly charged and judicially thorny questions facing the U.S. Catholic Church and its use of bankruptcy protection -- namely, when a diocese is in Chapter 11 protection, what's the legal standing of an individual parish?

On May 2, Judge Patricia Williams of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington set June 27 as the date for a hearing on a partial summary judgment motion against the bankrupt Spokane diocese and the 81 parishes within its territory.

Williams said she would rule on the parish-standing question at that hearing.

When she does, Catholic dioceses across the nation will hang on her words because plenty still face potentially crippling litigation associated with sexual abuse by priests.

The Spokane diocese claims it holds parish property in trust for individual parishes and, as such, should exclude from its estate dozens of churches and schools. If Williams determines a parish as a separate legal entity doesn't exist, then the diocese would have a much tougher time establishing the trustee relationship.

A committee of tort litigants in February brought the adversary motion against the diocese and named 131 parishes, schools and other church entities as co-defendants.

The motion demands that the parish properties be included as part of the debtor's estate, something that could potentially increase the value of the holdings several-fold.

Last Updated Tue, 10 May 2005 00:31:41 EDT
CBC News
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD. - A Roman Catholic diocese in Newfoundland plans to sell its churches, parish buildings and land to raise money to compensate people who were sexually abused by a priest.

The St. George's diocese, based in Corner Brook and taking in the westernmost third of the island, announced the action on Monday.

Bishop Douglas Crosby said the diocese hopes the property sales will provide most of the money it needs for a $13-million settlement with 36 victims of Father Kevin Bennett.

Bennett was convicted in 1990 of sexually abusing dozens of boys while he worked in the diocese, largely in communities on the island's south coast. He served four years in prison.

The victims launched a civil suit and in 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that they could sue the Episcopal Corp. of St. George's.

Crosby sent a letter to all churches across the diocese on the weekend, asking parishioners for donations to buy back some of the properties.

By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
May 10, 2005
Defrocked priest James Janssen was ordered Monday to pay $1.8 million in damages to his nephew, which makes him one of half a dozen priests nationwide who have been assessed monetary damages for sexual abuse.

A Scott County jury Monday ordered Janssen to pay damages to James Wells, 56, of Bettendorf. Wells accused the priest of abusing him for nine years, beginning when he was 5. The jury found for Wells after four hours of deliberation.

Janssen, 83, at first testified that he would not contest the allegations, although he didn't remember the abuse. The next day, he took the stand and said he was innocent, but had been persuaded by his lawyer that people would not believe that.

It is the first time an Iowa priest has been assessed damages in a civil lawsuit involving child sexual abuse, lawyers said.

"I feel vindicated, and it's been a long time coming," said Wells, who sued Janssen and the Davenport Catholic Diocese in 2003. Last fall, the diocese settled with Wells and 37 other abused plaintiffs for $9 million.

Craig Levien, the attorney who represented a majority of those filing sexual abuse lawsuits against Davenport priests, said that after decades of denial and diocesan cover-up, Janssen has been held accountable.

"This was not an effort to get more money for James Wells," Levien said. "We had the opportunity for an unbiased jury to apply justice to this priest just like any other person."

May 09, 2005

ST. LOUIS - The head of the St. Louis area's Roman Catholics is warning certain churches about the possible release of an imprisoned former priest, saying the case "has raised grave concerns about possible acts of child sexual abuse which he may have committed."

The man's attorney worries that his client, James Beine, may be "a sitting duck" targeted for violence once freed.

Archbishop Raymond Burke last week sent letters to three St. Louis-area churches where Beine once served and asked priests to read them during Masses next weekend. The letters ask any possible Beine victims to come forward, archdiocese spokesman Jamie Allman said Monday. The letter also will be published in the St. Louis Review, the archdiocese's weekly newspaper.

While calling the step "unusual," Allman said Burke "believes this was absolutely necessary."

"The urgency's there," Allman said. "Abuse by priests has done irreparable and untold harm to the fabric of trust in the Catholic Church and the preponderance of really wonderful priests. There will never be a time the archbishop lets his guard down on these types of matters."

A Roman Catholic diocese in Canada's eastern province of Newfoundland will sell all of its churches and missions to come up with the money to compensate the victims of sexual assault by a priest.

The Catholic Diocese of St George's said it would sell about 150 properties to raise $US10.5 million ($A13.58 million) for the victims of Father Kevin Bennett, who was convicted in 1990 of hundreds of sexual assaults over three decades as a priest on the west coast of the island.

"Everything," Bishop Douglas Crosby said.

"All of the churches, all of the parish houses, all the missions."

Bennett pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison in the early 1990s. Now retired and in his 70s, he continues to draw a church pension.

His 39 victims launched a civil suit in 1991, claiming damages from Bennett, some of his superiors, the western Newfoundland diocese of St George's and the church as a whole.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The information in this story was gathered from interviews, police reports, court records, books, newspaper articles and other documents. The names of victims and those who reported the abuse have been withheld. The Diocese of Oakland has acknowledged that the late Monsignor Vincent Breen molested children.

FREMONT — THE RUMORS SWIRLED around Holy Spirit parish for years, blasphemous, unthinkable and largely ignored.

Monsignor Vincent Ignatius Breen had a shady reputation that emerged in snatches and whispers. For much of his 29-year tenure at the church and school, the allegations faded into the ether.

Girls who complained to school officials that their pastor kissed them and fondled their breasts were told to "say no" to the priest or to tell their parents — despite state child-abuse reporting laws that required police be told.

Meanwhile, the abuse continued — in the rectory; on the schoolyard; in Breen's bedroom, where he kept a small trampoline for some of the girls to jump on while they were being fondled, according to police reports. He liked to take "modeling photographs" of the girls and invented little games where he would kiss them five times for every $5 bill they found when they were counting church money.

SAN LEANDRO — For the past decade, Pastor Michael Chalberg has helped victims heal from the damage of childhood clergy abuse.

Now, he is writing a series of books about the spiritual and emotional healing process, including 2003's "Shattered People: Journeys to Joy," which relates the story of one victim of Monsignor Vincent Breen at Holy Spirit Parish in Fremont.

"Clergy abuse is the worst kind of abuse because the abuser implants lies into the victim's psyche about who God is, and how he reveals his love and mercy toward us," says the soft-spoken Chalberg, his hands folded on the kitchen table beside a forgotten cup of coffee.

"These untruths not only affect the survivors' trust relationship with God, but also every relationship connected to the

person representing God. The lie that God will kill them for telling about the abuse takes on an eternal quality that is difficult for survivors to overcome, unless they encounter the truth of God's love."

OSSINING — In the northern suburbs, the Voice of the Faithful is a passionate but small voice, a voice of experience but not youth, and a voice that speaks mostly from a single parish.

More than 100 of the faithful came last week to that parish, St. Ann's Catholic Church in Ossining, to celebrate the second anniversary of their chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a national Catholic group seeking a greater lay voice in the church.

They started with an anniversary Mass at which a woman wearing a pink shirt offered a "reflection on the homily" — not a homily itself, which is reserved for a priest or deacon. Cecilia Brennan, a Catholic school teacher, delivered a heartfelt but mainstream message, asking parishioners if they were rooted in Jesus instead of their jobs and worldly achievements.

"The things of this world will never satisfy like the Spirit," she said.

People asked for prayers for the new pope, for parents and children, and for "those excluded from this Catholic Church." After Mass, they headed downstairs for a lecture on the laity's role and a piece of frosted anniversary cake.

Three years after Voice of the Faithful rose up in Boston to respond to the then-shocking priest sex-abuse scandal, one of the few healthy, growing chapters in the 10-county Archdiocese of New York is the one at St. Ann's. Otherwise there are two chapters in Manhattan — Voice of the Faithful prefers to call them affiliates — and a new, fledgling one in Larchmont. Some Westchester residents belong to a group in Fairfield, Conn. And that's it.

A child sex abuse law is proceeding through the Ohio General Assembly despite opposition from many of Ohio's Catholic bishops.

The proposed legislation would make all clergy mandatory reporters of sexual abuse to children and extend the statute of limitations, giving victims more time to bring a civil or criminal case forward.

Ohio bishops oppose the statute of limitations provision because they say extending it is unconstitutional and does not protect children from past and future abusers.

But Judy Jones, the Steubenville leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the statute of limitations is helpful for healing because it often takes victims some time to come to terms with what happened.

Amid church closings and a fiscal crisis resulting from the clergy sexual abuse scandal, the Archdiocese of Boston is passing the collection plate to fund its publicity machine, leaving stunned Catholics fuming.

``It's outrageous,'' aid Gina Scalcione, one of dozens of people who have held a round-the-clock vigil at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Boston since Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley closed the church seven months ago. ``They have to be hit where it hurts the most, and that's in the collection box.''

Since last May, people at Holy Trinity in the South End have asked the archdiocese why it plans to close their church next month, but have received no answers.

``No communication from them,'' said Leo Higgins of the Committee to Preserve Holy Trinity, ``means no money from us.'' ...

Bill Gately, who heads the New England chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the Conference of Bishops has yet to hold accountable any of its own members who shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish.

``Their message never changes: Pay, pray and obey,'' Gately said. ``Perhaps they'd get a better return on their public-relations investment if they listened, because the message from the faithful is loud and clear: The days when Catholics just handed over their hard-earned money for the church to spend on a whim, without accountability, are over.''

PORTLAND, Ore. - Roman Catholic parishes and schools are competing with alleged victims of clerical sex abuse to claim assets held by the Archdiocese of Portland, the first in the country to file for bankruptcy because of abuse settlements.

Court records show that about 340 claims, totaling $198 million, were made on the archdiocese by the April 29 deadline set by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Elizabeth Perris.

The attorneys listed in the documents and the large sums sought suggest about 150 of those claims may be related to sex abuse. Because many of the claims are sealed and don't have a specific amount listed, church officials believe they could surpass $530 million.

The rest of the claims, however, have no clear ties to sex abuse allegations, with at least 37 churches and parochial schools among the claimants, seeking about $115,000.

The archdiocese is responsible for 124 Catholic parishes and more than 50 schools in western Oregon, the most populous part of the state. Investment funds and other money the archdiocese has held for them were frozen by the bankruptcy filing.

CORNER BROOK — Parishioners in the Roman Catholic diocese of St. George's were asked Sunday to keep up their financial contributions, as the diocese attempts to cover a $13-million compensation offer for the victims of Father Kevin Bennett.

Bishop Douglas Crosby sent a letter to all churches across the diocese this weekend, appealing for churchgoers to continue their donations.

The diocese revealed details Friday of a proposal to compensate men who were abused as children by Father Kevin Bennett.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2004 the victims could sue the Episcopal Corp. of St. George's, which is based on the west coast of the island.

Bennett was convicted in 1990 of sexually abusing 36 boys while he worked in the diocese, largely in communities on the island's south coast. He served four years in prison.

In addition to using its cash reserves, the diocese will need to sell off some of its properties.

MEXICO CITY -- It took more than 50 years, but eight former seminary students who say they were sexually abused by one of the most powerful men in the Roman Catholic Church are getting a hearing.

In December, the Vatican ordered a full investigation into charges by the former members of the Legion of Christ against the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the order's 85-year-old Mexican founder. And last month, Monsignor Charles J. Scicluna, the Catholic Church's promoter of justice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, traveled to the United States and Mexico to collect testimony about Maciel from dozens of former Legionaries, according to four of the coaccusers.

The case, which dates to the 1940s, was reopened late last year by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who had shelved it five years earlier. Last month, Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, succeeding John Paul II.

''I was very skeptical before," said Alejandro Espinosa, a 67-year-old rancher and former seminarian who said he was forced to perform sexual acts on Maciel in the 1950s. In 2002, frustrated with the lack of a Vatican investigation into the men's allegations, Espinosa published ''The Legion," a book in which he relates the alleged abuse in graphic detail. He said he received death threats after the book came out.

Espinosa said, however, that he has new hope of finding justice in the case after his three-hour interview with Scicluna in early April. ''Now, if I'm not totally convinced, I think there is an 85 percent chance that they will find Maciel guilty," Espinosa said in a recent telephone interview from his home in northern Tamaulipas State.

The Mississippi Supreme Court says a statute-of-limitations problem may exist for three brothers suing the Catholic Diocese of Jackson over allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

The issue, however, wasn't addressed in the court's recent decision that the First Amendment does not prohibit lawsuits against the diocese over abuse claims.

The brothers filed a $48 million lawsuit in Hinds County Circuit Court in 2002. They claimed they were abused by a priest more than 30 years ago. The trial had been on hold while the Supreme Court considered the diocese's motion for dismissal.

The diocese, which is spread over 65 counties and serves 51,347 registered Catholics, said in a statement issued by attorney Stephen J. Carmody that the ruling didn't address the merits or validity of the claims by Kenneth, Thomas and Francis Morrison. The men say they were abused by the Rev. George Broussard when they were children in the 1970s.

May 08, 2005

CORNER BROOK, NL, May 8 /CNW/ - The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation
of St. George's, the civil arm of the Diocese, filed a proposal to its
creditors with the Official Receiver's Office on Friday, May 6th in response
to civil actions against the Corporation including those launched since 1991
on behalf of victims of sexual abuse. Over the next three weeks the creditors
will review the proposal and will vote to accept the Corporation's proposal or
to reject it. If the proposal is accepted, the Corporation will work towards
fulfilling the financial commitments as outlined under the proposal. If the
creditors reject the proposal, the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of
St. George's will be effectively bankrupt.
Bishop Douglas Crosby will read the following letter at all masses at the
Cathedral of the Holy Redeemer and Immaculate Conception in Corner Brook on
Sunday, May 8 and it will be read by the priest celebrant at all churches
across the Diocese.
Text of the letter follows (Word Count 1,014):

PASTORAL LETTER FROM BISHOP DOUGLAS CROSBY, OMI

May 8, 2005

My dear friends,

During this Easter season we have said goodbye to our Holy Father Pope
John Paul II and we have celebrated the election and inauguration of Pope
Benedict XVI who now stands in the shoes of the Fisherman. In an
apostolic letter at the beginning of the new millennium, Pope John Paul
used the expression 'Duc in Altum', "Put out into the deep", the
challenge of Jesus to his first disciples to let down their nets in
faith. (Lk5:4).

Jeremy Roberts
May 09, 2005
FOR the second time in eight months, the Adelaide diocese of the Anglican Church will vote on a replacement for deposed archbishop Ian George, forced to resign last year over a child sex abuse scandal.

After failing to reach the required two-thirds majority last September, the diocese will try again on May 21 with a shortlist containing two Adelaide priests and two high-ranking clerics from Victoria.

The new shortlist presented to the 280-member election synod retains from the last election the Victorian head of welfare group Anglicare, Ray Cleary, who is probably the favourite.

Canon Cleary has worked in welfare agencies for 25 years and is known for a gentle pastoral approach that places confidence in lay parishioners and doesn't bully members of the clergy. He is favoured by church liberals.

The next archbishop will have to implement reforms to the handling of sex abuse complaints, and resolve internal divisions over the resignation of Dr George.

INVESTIGATIONS into sex abuse allegations against two Donegal priests are to be dropped after confirmation by the garda handling the cases that the DPP is not to proceed with charges against the unnamed priests.

Welcoming the news, Fr Kevin Gillespie of the Raphoe diocesan advisory panel on child sex abuse, said Bishop Philip Boyce had remained in constant contact with the gardai and health board as part of the investigation.

Stuart Murphy projected himself as a humble man of independent wealth, a Catholic of standing and influence.

He told co-workers he was among the socially privileged invited to the bishop's Christmas party.

He gossiped about Catholic brass.

And although Murphy, a choir director at Annunciation Catholic Church in downtown Houston and a part-time teacher's assistant at the Cardinal Newman School on the west side, was prone to bouts of self-promotion, those who knew him reasoned, he was, after all, a Ph.D.

That persona was shattered when Murphy was arrested March 30, charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child. Shock was followed by questions — about his relationship with the church hierarchy, about his education, even about where he called home.

May 07, 2005

It started with an exclusive 11 news investigation of a local priest. The details of his interaction with one Anchorage man shocked the community. Now, that priest is on administrative leave... And the Archdiocese is in legal trouble over the allegations and evidence collected during our investigation. And the Archdiocese was served with a lawsuit today, alleging Father Bester was sexually inappropriate and aggressive. It says Father Bester was acting as an agent of the Archdiocese at the time... and what's more: it says the Archdiocese should have known better than to leave him in a position of power. And the law suit says Fred May is haunted by what happened. Joe Josephson: "I can certainly say in my dealing with him,” said May’s attorney Joe Josephson, ”that his emotional damage is genuine. There's no question about that. I have seen him in tears over this matter. I think that part of the problem is that it came about out of the blue... it was unexpected and he didn't know what he was walking into.”

Roman Catholic Bishop Michael P. Driscoll admitted Friday that his priorities were "horribly misplaced" when he helped supervise priests accused of sexual abuse in the 1970s and 1980s, as chancellor for the Diocese of Orange.

Driscoll, now the bishop of Boise, Idaho, posted a statement of apology on his diocesan Web site. In it, he said that although he had already apologized in June 2002 for his role in the scandal, he was doing so again in anticipation of a court-ordered release of diocesan personnel files expected to shed light on how he - and the Diocese of Orange - responded to complaints of child abuse against local clergy and other diocesan employees.

"I am deeply sorry that the way we handled cases at that time allowed children to be victimized by permitting some priests to remain in ministry, for not disclosing their behavior to those who might be at risk, and for not monitoring their actions more closely," Driscoll wrote.

"Yet, the focus at that time was to provide help to priests so they could continue in their vocations. I know now that our priorities were horribly misplaced. First and foremost, we should have done everything to protect the children."

I wonder if those kids who beat me up became priests, bishops and cardinals. They might have become close associates of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) at the time that the Vatican decided to distract attention from the Church's decade-long sex abuse scandal.

As the world became aware of pedophilia in the priesthood, Ratzinger took command of the Vatican's counter offensive, a course that interfered with justice for the victims of priests' abuse and also with US politics. How to direct the public away from the fact that hundreds of priests have taken advantage of kids in their parishes? In the 2004 elections, the Church weighed in on the side of George W. Bush and other candidates who opposed abortion and gay marriage, issues most likely to divert attention away from the scandal.

On August 11, 2004, less than three months before the elections, Ratzinger sent a directive to US Bishops. "The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin" Citing previous Church doctrine, he warned Catholics. "In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law or vote for it." Christians have a "grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God's law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. ,,,This cooperation can never be justified

Roman Catholic Bishop Michael P. Driscoll admitted Friday that his priorities were "horribly misplaced" when he helped supervise priests accused of sexual abuse in the 1970s and 1980s, as chancellor for the Diocese of Orange.

Driscoll, now the bishop of Boise, Idaho, posted a statement of apology on his diocesan Web site. In it, he said that although he had already apologized in June 2002 for his role in the scandal, he was doing so again in anticipation of a court-ordered release of diocesan personnel files expected to shed light on how he - and the Diocese of Orange - responded to complaints of child abuse against local clergy and other diocesan employees.

"I am deeply sorry that the way we handled cases at that time allowed children to be victimized by permitting some priests to remain in ministry, for not disclosing their behavior to those who might be at risk, and for not monitoring their actions more closely," Driscoll wrote.

"Yet, the focus at that time was to provide help to priests so they could continue in their vocations. I know now that our priorities were horribly misplaced. First and foremost, we should have done everything to protect the children."

The Toledo Catholic Diocese is stepping up its efforts to defeat a bill that would rewrite Ohio's statutes of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse.

Bishop Leonard Blair sent a letter to diocesan priests this week stating that Senate Bill 17 "should be of serious concern to all of us," and urged them to contact their state representatives to voice opposition to the legislation.

The bishop, who met with Ohio lawmakers last month to discuss the legislation, described the current bill as "watered down" compared to its original version.

The original bill, which he supported, would have made it mandatory for church volunteers as well as clergy and employees to report allegations of child sexual abuse. The current bill does not apply to church volunteers.

The diocese has asked pastors of all its 157 parishes in 19 counties in northwest Ohio to include informational sheets, titled "Questions and Answers About Senate Bill 17," in bulletins passed out in their churches this weekend. The bishop's letter and the Q&A also are published on the diocesan Web site, www.toledodiocese.org.

Two charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child against the former owner of the Dogwood City Daycare and Preschool.
The claims were made against Jefferson Marion Moore, Jr. by children that once attended the daycare.
Friday, Moore contacted KLTV wanting to tell his side of the story.
"I've dedicated myself to helping kids. It devastated me," Moore said.
He says he's innocent. "I want to say that I totally deny any and all of these false allegations that were made by these 2 children," Moore said.
But Smith County investigators think differently. Thursday they charged Jeff Moore, Jr. with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Moore turned himself in to the sheriff's department, saying he wanted no trouble with the law.
"You don't have 19 to 20 years of something and then one day you decide to throw it all out the window and do something that goes against everything and do something you have no desire to do," Moore said.
He is also the pastor at the Dogwood City Chapel next door to what used to be the daycare. Now it's a guitar and music lesson shop.

DUBLIN, Ireland – A nation whose very independence is rooted in its Catholic faith, Ireland is questioning its longtime devotion to the Roman Catholic Church and the conservative bent of its newly elected pope, Benedict XVI.

Irish from various age groups say they view the church increasingly as a relic of a bygone era, and that it is losing meaning in their daily lives. The Vatican acknowledges that one of its major challenges is reversing the rapid decline in church attendance throughout Western Europe. ...

Europeans have a consistent list of reasons for their drift from the church. They criticize the Vatican as aloof, immersed in ritual and mired in orthodoxy. They reject prohibitions against artificial birth control and the use of condoms to prevent AIDS. They say the church was too slow to respond to widespread allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

As I reported in my previous column, a sex abuse lawsuit against two Catholic priests — Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey — the Society of St. John, the Fraternity of St. Peter, the Diocese of Scranton, and (retired) Bishop James Timlin has been settled.

Dr. Jeffrey Bond, president of the Greeley, Pa.-based College of St. Justin Martyr, and who was once associated with the now-suppressed Society of St. John (SSJ), reports the SSJ has "fled" to Argentina. This move, according to Bond, had seemingly been planned for some time, particularly as the group — or clerical association, to be precise — became embroiled in scandal.

Bond, who still has three lawsuits against the SSJ and the diocese, believes the SSJ scandal is far from over. In an e-letter sent out today (May 6), Bond asserts:

"Urrutigoity and Ensey must still be laicized, a process which is supposedly underway, and a full investigation must be undertaken to determine the degree of guilt of the other SSJ priests. All of these priests — Daniel Fullerton, Dominic O'Connor, Basil Sarweh, and Dominic Carey — have lied to protect the predator priests of the SSJ, and all have been involved in deceiving Catholic donors.

"Moreover, Deacon Joseph Levine, who is now studying for the priesthood in the Diocese of Scranton, must never be ordained. As a former superior general of the SSJ, Deacon Levine not only insisted upon the innocence of Urrutigoity and Ensey long after their guilt was manifest, but he also perpetuated the fraud of presenting the SSJ as a religious community to unsuspecting Catholic donors.

A Scott County jury will continue deliberations next week after hearing closing arguments Friday in a civil lawsuit alleging sexual abuse against James Janssen, a former priest of the Catholic Diocese of Davenport.

An attorney for James Wells, 56, a nephew of Jannsen, asked the jury Friday to use monetary damages to punish the former priest for sexually abusing Wells for nine years starting in the 1950s.

“Is this man the saint, or is he the pedophile the evidence convincingly proves?” Craig Levien said, recalling testimony Thursday in which Janssen compared himself to St. Thomas More while recanting his previous admission that he abused Wells.

But Edward Wehr, the attorney for Janssen, 83, told the jury to put aside their emotions and deny Wells’ claim because he should have brought it years ago.

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Supreme Court on Friday ordered a defrocked priest to be freed from prison on bond, 10 days after it threw out the former elementary school counselor's convictions on charges he exposed himself to boys in a school restroom.

The state Department of Corrections was awaiting a formal order authorizing the release of James Beine from the Farmington Correctional Center, where he has been serving a 12-year sentence.

Beine's attorney, Lawrence Fleming, said his client likely would remain jailed until at least Tuesday. The Supreme Court ordered that he remain in home confinement, but Fleming said his client has no home.

Beine, a counselor in St. Louis schools for more than a decade, was dismissed from the priesthood in 1977 over allegations of sexual abuse.

He allegedly exposed himself to two male students while using a urinal in the spring of 2001. A third boy lodged a similar complaint. He was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison in September 2003.

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has written a letter to three churches
warning that one of their former pastors, the Rev. James Beine, will soon be
released from prison - and asking anyone who might be able to put him back
behind bars to come forward.

The Missouri Supreme Court overturned Beine's conviction on charges of exposing himself to three students at a St. Louis grade school, where he worked as a counselor, in the 2000-2001 school year. The court held that the law was unconstitutionally broad.

On Friday, the high court ordered Beine's release; authorities said it could
happen by Tuesday.

Burke asked the pastors of St. Peter in St. Charles, St. Andrew in Lemay and
St. Francis de Sales in St. Louis to read his letter at all Masses next
weekend. Beine served in the three parishes between his ordination in 1967 and
his removal from ministry in 1977.

The letter will be printed in next week's archdiocesan newspaper, the St. Louis
Review, and Web site, according to spokesman Jamie Allman. It is the first time
Burke, as the leader of the St. Louis archdiocese, has taken such public action
against a priest.

Denial reared its head in a Scott County courtroom this week, pushing the healing so desperately needed within the Catholic Church a little further away. Any healing that abuse victim James Wells might have been seeking won’t be found in a courtroom.

Former priest James Janssen took back his confession of sexual abuse and invoked God’s name in denying accusations he sexually abused boys in his care in the 1950s through the 1980s. A secular court hasn’t rendered any verdict in this case, but the church has. The Davenport diocese has paid reparations to church members who accused Janssen of abuse. He’s been removed from the priesthood and evicted from diocese housing.

Records made public through civil lawsuits show he was suspended the first time for abuse allegations in 1956. The diocese suspended him in 1958 after more allegations. In the next 20 years, he was moved through six parishes. Nine lawsuits allege abuse during that time.

The Davenport diocese’s painfully slow response to the church’s sex scandal kept pushing the healing back. Now that the diocese appears to be accepting full responsibility, we’re wondering if healing can ever by obtained. And how?

May 06, 2005

CORNER BROOK, NL, May 6 /CNW/ - The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation
of St. George's today filed a proposal to its creditors with the Official
Receiver's Office pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. A Notice of
Intention filed on March 8, 2005 effected a "stay of proceedings" in civil
actions against the Corporation including those launched since 1991 on behalf
of victims of sexual abuse. On April 18, 2005 the Corporation requested and
was granted an extension of the stay of proceedings until today, allowing the
Corporation time to evaluate its assets and to prepare the proposal to
creditors.
Over the past number of weeks the Corporation and its advisors have been
working with representatives of certain creditors to get their input for the
proposal that was filed today. Within the next three weeks the creditors will
review the proposal and will meet with Bishop Douglas Crosby and the Trustee
to discuss the terms and to ask questions. Following that meeting the
creditors will vote to accept the Corporation's proposal or to reject it.
"We are grateful for the cooperation we received from our creditors in
the preparation of this proposal," said Bishop Crosby. "We remain hopeful that
they will find it fair and just and that they will accept it."

DAYTON | Catholic Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk and other Ohio bishops were criticized Thursday for opposing a proposed law that would allow child abuse victims to file lawsuits alleging incidents that occurred as long as 35 years ago.

Leaders of Voice of the Faithful gathered in front of the Old Court House to call for support of the law, which also would require clerics to report child abuse.

They criticized Pilarczyk, who heads the Cincinnati archdiocese, for writing to Ohio legislators calling the bill unconstitutional.

"Our take is this is about exposure," said Mike Knellinger, chairman of Voice of the Faithful's Dayton affiliate. "Personally I hope that people have their day in court and the perpetrators are exposed."

Dan Andriacco, spokesman for the Cincinnati archdiocese, said Pilarczyk supports the bill's provisions except for the retroactive statute of limitations.

The church has made payments to victims and covered the cost of counseling, but Andriacco said the proposed law could open the church to a multitude of new lawsuits of a million dollars or more, with much of the settlement money going to attorneys.

The law would greatly harm the Catholic church and do little to help victims heal "unless you think money is a magic cure all of itself," he said.

PATERSON - Fans of the Spanish-language program "El Vacilón de la Mañana" (The Morning Party) have helped make it the highest-rated radio show in any language in the tri-state area - even trouncing Howard Stern at the height of his popularity.

But its fan base does not include parishioners of the Paterson Diocese, who are organizing a campaign against the program, arguing that it is obscene and has to be stopped.

"The community is outraged and disgusted, especially at the cheap shots against our church," said Tina Perez, a parishioner at St. Agnes, who has collected nearly 2,000 signatures on a petition against the station. "They're playing to the lowest common denominator."

The "cheap shots" Perez referred to involved a show in March during which the host, Luis Jimenez, reportedly made the diocese the butt of jokes in bad taste. According to Perez, Jimenez also insinuated that Monsignor Mark Giordani, pastor of St. John the Baptist Cathedral, was a child molester.

"To say something like this, in this atmosphere - when the church has been examining itself and its practices for the last 50 years and is acting on those accusations and inferences - is the grossest kind of caricature," said Marianna Thompson, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Paterson.

Jimenez, who has been with the program since it started 12 years ago, denied attacking Giordani, but said he was angry that members of the church were attacking him in the wake of the priest abuse scandal.

"I didn't say he was a child molester," Jimenez said. "I don't know him by name, I just think the organization he represents has hurt many children throughout many years, and that's why the most ridiculous thing they can do is protest against us. ... I said, 'What's more indecent - to rape a child or do a spicy radio show?'Ÿ"

JACKSON (AP) - The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the First Amendment does not prohibit lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Jackson over allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Three brothers filed a $48 million lawsuit in Hinds County Circuit Court in 2002. They claimed they were abused by a priest more than 30 years ago. The trial had been on hold while the Supreme Court considered the diocese's motion for dismissal.

The diocese argued that the separation of church and state made the church autonomous. It also said certain church documents were privileged.

The brothers argued the diocese was trying to hide behind the First Amendment to avoid civil action over priest sexual abuse.

The issue before the Supreme Court was not whether the diocese was liable for alleged abuse. The issues dealt with whether the lawsuit should be dismissed and what diocese documents should be provided to the plaintiffs.

Article published on Thursday, May 5th, 2005
By JAN DANELSKI
Mirror Writer

Father Robert Bester, pastor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Kodiak from the spring of 2003 until July of 2004, was placed on administrative leave Wednesday by the Archdiocese of Anchorage pending investigation of sexual misconduct.

The action preceded a KTVA 11 News report aired on television Wednesday night reporting Bester solicited sexual favors from an adult male in exchange for getting the man a job on a church construction project.

The news report, preceded by a disclaimer of graphic content, showed Bester talking with a construction worker and broadcast their conversation.

According to an Archdiocese press release Wednesday, Bester informed them an adult male had accused him of inappropriate behavior and that he (Bester) had reported the incident to the police.

Many in Kodiak who saw the television news broadcast were upset and shocked.

“The things played on the tape are very hard to repeat in an office setting,” Lynn Devlin, ad manager for the Kodiak Daily Mirror, said.

An Anchorage Priest on administrative leave today. He's facing accustaions that he used his positon of power to pressure a man into sex.

Those accusations only came to light after an exclusive 11 News investigation. The graphic sexual nature of what we uncovered is deepy disturbing and viewer discretation is certainly advised. But as hard as this may to be listen to, what is perhaps most troubling about this investigation, is that it centers on a spiritual leader, a preist, and it all takes place inside his Anchorage church.

Parishoners here at Our Lady Of Guadelope have reason to rejoice. Right next door they are bulding a new Cathedral. It'll be a million dollar house of worship. But even now, before it's finished, this house is hiding a secret so sinster, it will shake this church to it's foundations. It's revelation: enough to cause doubt for even the intensely devout.

Fredrick May says Father Bob wanted to trade him- sex for work- specifically for a job buidling the new cathedral.

I asked him, "What made you contact us?"

May responded, "I said, man, nobody's gonna believe me. This guy is way up in the church and I ain't not saint. I said they're not going to believe me and so I called Channel 11 News."

May's story of a priest, pushing to perform oral sex on a perspective employee seemed increadible to us too. But he showed us checks for 100, 150, even 500 dollars written to him by Father Robert Bester. Some of those checks written directly from the Church's account.

"The defendants in the case of Doe vs. Diocese of Scranton, the Society of St. John, the Fraternity of St. Peter and Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity and Fr. Eric Ensey (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Case No. 3 CV 02-0444) have agreed to a settlement with the plaintiff, a former student of St. Gregory's Academy in Moscow, Pennsylvania.

"Under the terms of the settlement the defendants will pay the plaintiff $255,000 in cash and future periodic payments of $199,550, for a total settlement of $454,550.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Subiaco Academy student who said he was sexually abused by a priest at the school in the 1970s.

U.S. District Judge Robert T. Dawson ruled that Joffre J. Miller's suit against Subiaco Academy and the Rev. Nicholas Fuhrmann is barred by the statute of limitations, which expired in 1983. Dawson dismissed the case with prejudice.

Miller, who now lives in Texas, alleged that Fuhrmann molested him from 1976-79, while Fuhrmann was his teacher and boxing coach. His attorney, Lori Watson, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith in February.

Arkansas law states that a person who is entitled to civil action because of events occurring while he or she was a minor may bring the action within three years of turning 18. Miller turned 18 in 1980.

Watson argued that the statute of limitations had not expired for Miller because of a state law enacted in 1993 that allows a civil suit to be filed up to three years after the discovery of sexual abuse or the discovery of the effect of the abuse. Miller's suit claimed that he discovered the effect of the alleged abuse within the last three years.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon says he will request a re-hearing of the James Beine case before the state Supreme Court. The high court overturned an earlier conviction against Beine, who'd been accused of exposing himself to three boys in a school restroom. The justices said Missouri's law, on sexual misconduct, is too broad and could wrongly accuse people who are simply going to the bathroom in a public place. Nixon thinks the law is clear and says its never been used to wrongly accuse anyone.

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a civil suit that accused two priests of sexual misconduct with a minor, according to the attorney for the family that filed the suit. That’s only part of the total settlement of $454,550.

As a result of the settlement, the 3-year-old case was dismissed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The case was filed in March 2002 by a man who, in court documents, was identified as John Doe. Doe contended that, as a minor, he had been sexually molested by the Revs. Eric Ensey and Carlos Urrutigoity, two of the founding priests of the Society of St. John in Shohola, Pike County.

The civil suit named the two priests, the society, the diocese, former Bishop James Timlin and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter as defendants. The Fraternity of St. Peter runs St. Gregory’s Academy, a school for boys in Elmhurst, where the Society of St. John was initially housed after Timlin gave permission for them to set up in the diocese.

A lawyer for dozens of plaintiffs in sexual-abuse lawsuits filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego yesterday said cases will begin going to trial if the latest round of talks on a settlement does not succeed.

The development comes two years after nearly 100 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy were combined to work out a settlement.

At a news conference outside the Pastoral Center of the diocese, lawyer Irwin Zalkin expressed some guarded hope that a settlement could be reached. Zalkin, whose firm represents 35 of the 144 people who have sued the diocese, said the appointment of a new settlement judge and a meeting this week added urgency to the stalled talks.

He said lawyers for the plaintiffs, the diocese and its insurance carrier – a critical player in any potential settlement – met in a confidential session Tuesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr.

WEST PALM BEACH — An employee of the Diocese of Palm Beach said Thursday that Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Alvarez, a Catholic, should be denied communion for allowing a 13-year-old foster child to have an abortion.

Don Kazimir, who works for the diocese's Respect Life Office, which opposes abortion and the death penalty, called Alvarez's office Wednesday to ask which church the judge attends. Kazimir said he wanted to speak with Alvarez's priest, who he said might have a problem with a Catholic judge agreeing to an abortion.

Alvarez was angry about the call. It is wrong, he said, for the church to try to intimidate a judge into putting his faith above the law. ...

In the mid-'90s, he was assigned to a civil case alleging sexual abuse in the diocese. The plaintiff asked Alvarez to recuse himself because he was Catholic, and Alvarez agreed.

But though he once attended a local parish, Alvarez said he has not attended church for about three years. He said he could no longer be a part of an organization that covered up abuse by priests and quietly transferred child molesters to new churches.

The day after former priest James Janssen told a Scott County jury he had sexually abused his nephew during the 1950s, he took the witness stand again Thursday to say he had felt pressured to lie under oath.

Janssen, 83, of Davenport, repeatedly compared himself to a saint as he changed his testimony to completely deny allegations made earlier in the trial by plaintiff James Wells, 56, of Bettendorf.

“I was overwhelmed, I think, by pressure,” Janssen testified, saying that his attorney, Edward Wehr, had told him the jury probably would not believe it if he denied the allegations.

James Janssen, a former priest in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, gestures Thursday while recanting testimony from the previous day in which he had admitted sexually abusing his nephew decades ago.

“But I’m 83 years of age now, and I just thought last night, ‘Why did I, to be honest, perjure myself just to be polite to my attorney?’ ” he said.

Wells’ attorney, Craig Levien, asked Janssen why he responded “yes” when asked Wednesday whether he had fondled Wells and masturbated during a nap after a family Thanksgiving dinner in 1953.

A former priest who confessed Wednesday to sexually abusing his young nephew retracted the confession Thursday, saying all allegations were false and he lied under oath.

Defrocked Davenport priest James Janssen, 83, said he was pressured by his lawyer, former Scott County prosecutor Ned Wehr, to admit the allegations were true.

Mr. Janssen testified in a civil sex-abuse trial Wednesday that he abused his nephew, Jim Wells, beginning in 1953, when Mr. Wells was 5 years old. At first giving a broad-sweeping admission, Mr. Janssen later denied specifics of the allegations.

Thursday, he flatly denied all the allegations.

"May God strike me dead, I've never had sexual contact with that boy from when he was 5," he said. "It never happened. In front of God Almighty, it never happened."

JACKSON - The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the First Amendment does not prohibit lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Jackson over allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Three brothers filed a $48 million lawsuit in Hinds County Circuit Court in 2002. They claimed they were abused by a priest more than 30 years ago. The trial had been on hold while the Supreme Court considered the diocese's motion for dismissal.

The diocese argued that the separation of church and state makes the church autonomous and that certain church documents are privileged.

The state Supreme Court Thursday cleared the way for a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a priest to go forward against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson.

But the church says the suit violates the statute of limitations and will attempt to have it thrown out.

Three brothers — Kenneth Morrison of Chicago, Thomas Morrison of Jackson and Francis Morrison Jr. of Texas — and their mother, Dorothy Morrison of Madison, filed the $48 million lawsuit in 2002 in Hinds County Circuit Court alleging a priest sexually abused the brothers more than 30 years ago.

The high court's 84-page opinion said the First Amendment does not protect the church from civil litigation.

"We find no credibility in the argument that immunity from liability for damages caused by pedophiles should be grounded in religious faith, doctrine, practice or belief, regardless of any theory under which that argument is advanced," Justice Jess Dickinson said, writing for the court.

May 05, 2005

The judge appointed by the US Bishops' to investigate the sex abuse scandal has said that the Church is in a good position to move ahead on dealing with the sex abuse scandal because Pope Benedict XVI is so well briefed on the situation.

"What better position can we be in the Catholic Church today? To know that the [current] Pope read [the report], talked to us and followed through," Judge Ann Burke has told told CBS.

Burke was chosen by the US bishops to investigate the priest sex-abuse scandal on theAbuse Tracker Review Board, a lay body set up to monitor bishops' implementation of sexual abuse reforms. She stepped down last May along with three other appointees of the twelve-member board who had all served for almost two years.

In the interview with CBS, Burke said she travelled to Rome in January 2004 to meet with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and to offer Vatican officials the full story of the sex-abuse scandal.

Cardinal Ratzinger spent nearly three hours with Burke, who said she thinks he was "surprised at what we had to tell him".

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will face revisions in its "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" and the accompanying "Essential Norms" when the bishops meet this June in Chicago.

They will also be asked to approve spending up to $1 million from USCCB reserves to fund an in-depth study of the causes and context behind the decades of clergy sex abuse of minors that exploded into a national church crisis in 2002.

A former priest who confessed Wednesday to sexually abusing his young nephew retracted the confession today saying all the allegations are false and that he lied under oath.

Defrocked Davenport priest James Janssen, 83, said he was pressured by his lawyer, former Scott County prosecutor Ned Wehr, to admit the allegations were true.

Mr. Janssen testified in a civil sex-abuse trial Wednesday that he abused his nephew beginning in 1953 when Jim Wells was 5 years old. At first giving a broad-sweeping admission, Mr. Janssen later denied specifics of the allegations.

Thursday, he said he lied under oath when making those statements.

"May God strike me dead, I've never had sexual contact with that boy from when he was five," Mr. Janssen said Thursday. "It never happened. In front of God Almighty, it never happened."

Newswise — Showtime, a leading television network providing cable programming that includes original series and movies along with current Hollywood fare, has acquired Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-Up in the Catholic Church. The 56-minute documentary will be aired May 19 at 10 p.m., May 25 at 10:10 p.m., and May 27 at 10:15 p.m.

The documentary was written, directed and produced by Warren, R.I. resident Mary Healey-Conlon, a lecturer in communications and film studies at the University of Rhode Island.

Holy Water-Gate, which examines the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal and the fallout of a decades-long cover-up to conceal the truth, was purchased as a companion program to the SHOWTIME original picture “Our Fathers” starring Christopher Plummer, Brian Dennehy and Ted Danson.

The documentary was awarded a CINE Golden Eagle in investigative journalism. Prior CINE recipients include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Ken Burns.

Motivated by abuse victims whose stories were being rejected and whose motives were being questioned, the independent filmmaker picked up her camera in 1999 and began filming.

The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the First Amendment does not prohibit lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Jackson over allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Three brothers filed a $48 million lawsuit in Hinds County Circuit Court in 2002. They claimed they were abused by a priest more than 30 years ago.

The trial had been on hold while the Supreme Court considered the diocese's motion for dismissal.

The diocese argued that the separation of church and state made the church autonomous. It also said certain church documents were privileged.

The brothers argued the diocese was trying to hide behind the First Amendment to avoid civil action over priest sexual abuse.

The issue before the Supreme Court was not whether the diocese was liable for alleged abuse. The issues dealt with whether the lawsuit should be dismissed and what diocese documents should be provided to the plaintiffs.

Nine years after he had been convicted and sent to prison on charges of sexual assault against a teenage boy, Father Gordon MacRae received a letter in July 2003 from Nixon Peabody LLP, a law firm representing the Diocese of Manchester, N.H. Under the circumstances--he was a priest serving a life term--and after all he had seen, the cordial-sounding inquiry should not perhaps have chilled him as much as it did.

". . . an individual named Brett McKenzie has brought a claim against the Diocese of Manchester seeking a financial settlement as a result of alleged conduct by you," the letter informed him. There was a limited window of opportunity for an agreement that would release him and the diocese from liability. He should understand, the lawyer added, that this request didn't require Father MacRae to acknowledge in any way what Mr. McKenzie had alleged. "Rather, I simply need to know whether you would object to a settlement agreement."

Father MacRae promptly fired a letter off, through his lawyer, declaring he had no idea who Mr. McKenzie was, had never met him, and he was confounded by the request that he assent to any such payment. Neither he nor his lawyers ever received any response. Father MacRae had little doubt that the stranger--like others who had emerged, long after trial, with allegations and attorneys, and, frequently, just-recovered memories of abuse--got his settlement.

By the time he was taken off to prison in 1994, payouts for such claims against priests promised to surpass the rosiest dreams of civil attorneys. The promise was duly realized: In 2003, the Boston Archdiocese paid $85 million for some 54 claimants. The Portland, Ore., Archdiocese, which had already handed over some $53 million, declared bankruptcy in 2004, when confronted with $155 million in new claims. Those of Tucson, Ariz., and Spokane, Wash., soon did the same.

Mayor James E. West, a former Republican legislative leader and opponent of gay rights, has been accused of molesting two boys decades ago and more recently offering a City Hall internship during an online chat to someone he thought was a young man but was in reality a computer investigator hired by a newspaper.

West, 54, acknowledged to The Spokesman-Review that he offered gifts and an internship over the Web site Gay.com to what he believed was an 18-year-old man, but was actually a private computer expert hired by the newspaper.

But in a Wednesday night interview with the newspaper, West denied the claims of past abuse by Robert J. Galliher, 36, of Seattle, and Michael G. Grant Jr., 31, of Spokane, as "flat lies." ...

Spokane in the past year has been rocked by dozens of claims of past sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, and the Diocese of Spokane has declared bankruptcy because of legal claims from the abuse.

The newspaper said its investigation of West arose out of tips received in 2002 during its investigations of the Catholic sex abuse.

THE bill for compensating victims of abuse in State-run residential institutions could be €120 million more than the Government had first anticipated, the latest estimate shows.

The Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB), the independent body set up in 2002 to compensate those abused as children in State-run institutions, will stop accepting applications in December.

The RIRB expects to have received between 7,500 and 8,000 applications by that time, and believes the total compensation bill, including legal and administration costs, will reach between €680m and €730m.

Prior to the RIRB’s establishment, the Department of Education had estimated the bill for compensation would reach €508m, rising to €610m when legal and administration costs were factored in.

AT least 57 survivors of residential institutions have taken their lives in the past five years.

That's according to a survivors' group which is to press for enhanced counselling services for people dealing with the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

A man who apparently threw himself into the Liffey in Dublin last week is believed to have been the latest survivor of the industrial school system to take their own life.

Tony Tracy of Right of Place, a state-funded organisation set up to help and support survivors of institutional abuse, said there had been 76 suicides since 1999 and at least 57 in the past five years.

Some Methodist leaders will be tempted to blame Teresa Norris or a Greene County jury for the pain they have heaped upon the church's West Missouri Conference.

They should resist the temptation.

The damage to the church was self-inflicted. Norris could not have sued the church, winning $2 million in actual damages and $4 million in punitive damages, if conference leaders had done the right thing in the first place.

The right thing would have been to take seriously the growing stack of complaints that pastor David Finestead sexually harassed women on his staff and in his congregation. Instead, church officials moved him from Kansas City to Campbell United Methodist Church in Springfield and left him there while more complaints poured in.

Johnny Vega walked into the offices of the Paterson Diocese two weeks ago with a pair of his trademark military-style boots slung over his shoulder. When he left the bishop's office, an hour-and-a-half later, he only had one.

And that was a good thing. A very good thing. For Vega, 41, that one little child-sized boot served as a symbol of his recent struggles with the diocese and Catholicism together. The meeting was one final and important step in his quest to reconcile with the Catholic Church - the church that he was raised in, that his parents were raised in and their parents, as well, the church where he served as an altar boy as a youth.

And the church that he alleges covered up his sexual abuse at the hands of the Rev. Jose Alonzo and Deacon Carlos Guzman at Our Lady of Victories and St. John's Cathedral, both in Paterson, when he was between the ages of 11 and 16.

Vega, of Wallington, was one of 27 plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Paterson Diocese alleging sex abuse by area priests. The lawsuit was filed in January 2004 and settled last February - without an admission of guilt or wrongdoing, by the diocese - for $5 million, four years of paid counseling and, upon request, a one-on-one meeting with Paterson Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli. (Serratelli was not the bishop during the time of the alleged abuse.)

TRENTON | Frustrated over a perceived snub by state lawmakers, child sexual abuse victims are taking to the airwaves.

The group, fixthelaw.org, is launching a series of cable television commercials demanding a change to the law shielding nonprofits from lawsuits by child molestation victims. The group is dedicated to overturning the shield law, known as charitable immunity, which remains on the books in three states, including New Jersey.

''Lawmakers are really betraying us,'' said John Hardwicke Jr., a group member who said he was abused for two years in Princeton. ''Lawmakers have not done their jobs, so we want people to lobby their lawmakers to get this bill posted.''

The Senate passed legislation last May allowing sex abuse victims to file suit against churches, schools and other charitable organizations, but the measure has stalled in the Assembly.

Assembly Speaker Albio Sires, D-Hudson, who decides which proposed laws advance to the Assembly floor, did not return calls for comment.

His spokesman, Joe Donnelly, on Wednesday said the measure ''is still very much alive and well.''

Donnelly said a sticking point for lawmakers is setting a deadline for filing lawsuits against nonprofits in cases when alleged abuse dates back decades.

GRAND MOUND, IOWA - Allegations of sexual abuse started to surface long before James Janssen's nephew came forward.

The Saints Philip and James Church in Grand Mound, Iowa was the last parish he served before the church defrocked him. Several parishoners from the tiny town of 550 are attending Janssen's trial in Scott County.

Therese Green, was a member of that church while Janssen was there in the 1980s. She says he abused two of her sons when they were young teens.

"He used to stop in at our house and if none of the guys were there he'd just leave," she said.

Both sons were part of the 37 lawsuits settled by the Diocese of Davenport out of court.

"I'm angry at what he did and at the diocese for letting it go on and moving him from place to place when they knew it," Green said.

A former priest admitted before a Scott County jury Wednesday that he sexually abused his underage nephew decades ago and committed the acts so many times he could not remember specific incidents.

But James Janssen, 83, of Davenport, also denied during his testimony many of the particular instances of abuse alleged by his nephew James Wells, now 56, of Bettendorf, who testified Tuesday in his civil lawsuit against Janssen.

Janssen responded “yes” when asked by Wells’ attorney, Craig Levien, whether Janssen fondled Wells and masturbated during a nap after a family Thanksgiving dinner in 1953.

However, the former Catholic Diocese of Davenport priest repeatedly said, “I don’t recall that” or flatly denied Wells’ accounts of being fondled while swimming in the Mississippi River with a group of boys, in a car parked on a rural road, in a bathtub and on a roller coaster at an amusement park.

Jim Wells got what he wanted Wednesday after decades of denials by his uncle that he sexually abused him in the 1950s and '60s -- a confession.

Defrocked Davenport priest James Janssen, 83, testified in a civil sex-abuse trial that he abused his nephew beginning in 1953 when Mr. Wells was 5 years old.

At first giving a broad-sweeping admission, Mr. Janssen later denied specifics of the allegations.

Judge C.H. Pelton ordered Mr. Janssen to be in the courtroom Wednesday after he was a no-show Tuesday when Mr. Wells, 56, of Bettendorf, testified he was abused for about nine years. He said other boys also were molested while swimming and during naked card games.

"I really did hope he would take responsibility for what he had done," Mr. Wells testified.

The Allentown Catholic Diocese's decision to place priests accused of sexual abuse in a restricted facility in Schuylkill County reflects a situation faced by dioceses nationwide: how to fulfill an ill-defined mandate on dealing with such priests.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is considering a move similar to Allentown's program, which requires that the supervised priests undergo a specialized ''safety plan.'' Officials at the Scranton Catholic Diocese didn't return calls for comment.

Allentown diocesan officials said they developed the program to comply with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops established in 2002 in response to the sexual abuse scandal.

Under the charter, offending priests who have been removed from ministry because of sexual abuse should ''lead a life of prayer and penance.''

As for how dioceses can ensure such lives, the charter doesn't say. But a report released by the bishops conference last year recommended that bishops keep track of the priests.

By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
May 5, 2005
A judge has limited public disclosures on a Des Moines man's molestation lawsuit against a former Dowling Catholic High School priest - just days after the man gave three television interviews about his allegations.

Polk County District Judge Scott Rosenberg, ruling on a request from the Des Moines Catholic Diocese, prohibited parties in the lawsuit from publicly discussing personnel records, insurance and financial information, and medical records of plaintiff John S. Chambers or the defendant, the Rev. Leonard A. Kenkel.

Rosenberg also ordered the attorneys involved to refrain from commenting on the case and its merits and urged the parties to exercise "the utmost civility and decorum in these proceedings and when dealing with each other."

Chambers filed a lawsuit on March 28 that accused Kenkel, who now is a parish priest in Creston and Afton, of fondling him in the classroom while he was a student at Dowling in the late 1960s.

Diocese officials, objecting to Chambers' television interviews, said his remarks were embarrassing and damaged the ability of the diocese and the priest to defend the case.

May 5, 2005
Davenport, Ia. - James Janssen, the defrocked Davenport priest who defiantly denied sexual abuse allegations by some 20 men, admitted Wednesday on the witness stand that he abused one of the men as a boy.

Janssen, 83, testified after a judge ordered him to be in the courtroom Wednesday. He had been absent Tuesday when the plaintiff, a 56-year-old man who accuses Janssen of abusing him as a child, testified.

The man and several others accused Janssen of four decades of child sexual abuse and accused the Davenport Catholic Diocese of moving him from parish to parish and keeping the allegations secret for decades.

A group of 37 people settled with the diocese for $9 million in October 2004, However, several people still have civil lawsuits pending against Janssen and other priests.

Janssen was the first Iowa priest to be removed involuntarily from the priesthood.

On the witness stand, the former priest acknowledged the abuse, but said he could not recall specific incidents.

People seeking legal recourse against church leaders who failed to protect them from child sexual abuse may have a better chance to do so because of a Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling.

On Tuesday, the court ruled that Michael Fortin, a former altar boy and student at St. Mary's in Augusta, can sue both the priest who he claims abused him starting in 1985 and the church itself.

Fortin said that the priest's superiors knew that the Rev. Raymond Melville posed a danger to parishioners and failed to protect them.

The court's ruling will allow Fortin to make that case.

It's a significant ruling because it limits the scope of a 1997 ruling that said the relationship between a bishop and a priest was off-limits to judicial review.

The majority in Fortin's challenge, however, found that because of Fortin's age and involvement in the church, it had a particular duty to protect him. In addition, Justice Jon Levy pointed out that the public interest in preventing sexual abuse of children allowed the government to intervene.

May 04, 2005

Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education tells the story of two childhood friends reunited as men in Madrid in 1980. Enrique (Fele Martinez) has gone on to become a filmmaker, currently having some trouble finding a story for his film.

He scours newspaper ads for ideas, but cannot seem to hit on inspiration. As fate would have it, Ignacio (Gael Garcia Bernal) comes walking through his door. Ignacio is an aspiring actor who lacks experience and is starving for an opportunity to succeed. Both men see a chance for themselves in The Visit, a screenplay that Ignacio has written based on their experiences of growing up in a Catholic school for boys in the 1960s.

Ignacio's story focuses on a transvestite named Zahara, played by Ignacio, and his plan to blackmail Father Manolo (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), the priest who molested him as a boy. Zahara threatens to expose the priest by publishing his story of the sexual abuse that occurred in the school.

Ignacio's story speaks of young Enrique (Raul Garcia Forneiro) and Ignacio (Nacho Perez) and how they began to explore their sexuality and fall in love as young boys. Young Ignacio gets sexually abused by Father Manolo, who believes in his own twisted way that he truly loves the young boy.

One plaintiff wants $15 million from the bankrupt Archdiocese of Portland, claiming he was molested by a priest. Another alleged abuse victim wants $2 million. Adolph's Flowers wants $150. Central Catholic High School wants $14,000.

In the coastal town of Florence, nearly 100 claimants are seeking the return of church building fund money held in trust by the archdiocese, and now frozen because of bankruptcy proceedings.

So far, about 430 claims have piled up against the first Roman Catholic archdiocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy because of multimillion-dollar claims of sexual abuse by priests.

Most of the claims are not directly related to abuse, and about 150 of them come from churches, church schools or individuals and other groups with obvious church ties. The archdiocese is holding money in trust for many of them.

A long line of creditors has formed — all trying to protect their money from being used as settlements for victims of priest sex abuse.

By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION WRITER
May 4, 2005
A Polk County judge on today sided with the Diocese of Des Moines, blocking disclosure of key documents connected to a child sexual abuse by clergy case.

The ruling came after the diocese and attorney for the Rev. Leonard A. Kenkel objected to information being disclosed by John S. Chambers and his attorney Mary McGee during recent TV interviews.

The diocese and Kenkel claimed that the remarks were embarrassing and damaged the diocese and priest's ability to defend itself against the charges.

Chambers has alleged that Kenkel abused him when he was a student at Dowling Catholic High School about 40 years ago.

04 May 2005
A Dungiven parish was plunged into fresh controversy today after it was revealed that a priest at the centre of a sex abuse allegation will return to accept the proceeds of a collection held on his behalf.

Over 2,000 churchgoers have already signed a petition of support for Fr Andrew McCloskey, who was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy.

He took leave of absence as curate of St Patrick's church after an allegation that he assaulted an 18-year-old in 1992, who was subsequently awarded £19,000 in an out of court settlement.

It is understood the teenager was receiving counselling for sexual abuse from Fr McCloskey at a parochial house in Derry at the time of the alleged incident.

Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty blamed alcohol for Fr McCloskey's problems at the time, while the priest admitted he was at the centre of allegations to a packed church in January.

The Catholic Church came under fire for allowing the priest to continue parochial duties after the initial allegation, including working with a group offering counselling to abuse victims.

A defrocked priest who's at the center of a sex abuse lawsuit gave dramatic testimony in an eastern Iowa court this (Wednesday) morning. Ex-priest James Janssen is being sued by his nephew, James Wells of Bettendorf. Wells says his uncle -- the priest -- abused him when he was a boy in the 1950s and '60s. Lawyer Craig Levien (luh-VEEN') put the ex-priest on the witness stand and asked Janssen if he had been "holy." "God decides that," Janssen said. "But you admit that you abused Jim Wells, don't you?" the lawyer then said. "If he says that, I am not contesting it," the ex-priest replied.

DAVENPORT -- After 50 years of silence and denials, defrocked priest James Janssen took the witness stand in a Davenport courtroom Wednesday and reluctantly admitted abusing his nephew in the 1950's and 1960's, starting when he was just five years old.

Janssen was ordered to come to court Wednesday and testify at the request of attorneys for his nephew, James Wells, despite the objection of Janssen's lawyer.

Janssen, who was officially kicked out of the priesthood last year amid allegations and lawsuits of sexual abuse, was asked under oath, ''Did you molest Jim Wells and were you his uncle and priest, on Thanksgiving Day, 1953?''

Joe (name has been changed) was 11 years old when he was sexually abused by a priest in another diocese in 1957. Forty-eight years later, Joe sat with his wife, Maggie, in the back row of a small day chapel in a quiet church. They sat side-by-side, not holding hands, but the sense of support that Maggie lent Joe was palpable.

In a quiet but clear voice, Joe related the real-life nightmare of being a child victim of clergy sexual abuse.

"For quite a long time I stewed about it," Joe said. "I’m not going to mention the (priest’s) name. It was quite a search to find him."

Joe’s investigation led him to the bishop who had been in charge of the priest at the time Joe had been abused. Joe emphasized his caution in making an accusation.

"I wanted to be very careful it was the same person," he said. "I found the bishop to be extremely understanding."

Joe and Maggie said the priest had already been suspended for other allegations, but that no charges were pressed. The offending priest was not defrocked, but was taken out of active ministry. In Joe’s case, the statute of limitations had passed.

Though Joe was unable to take legal action, his search opened the door to the path of healing. He attended counseling and, when the Arlington Diocese, under the supervision of Victim Assistance Coordinator Pat Mudd, scheduled regular Masses to pray for the victims of sexual abuse, Joe and his wife attended the first one at Arlington’s Cathedral of St. Thomas More in June. Joe said the healing Masses were a "tremendously good idea" and "very thoughtful on the part of the bishop."

Former Portland Archbishop William Levada could become the next guardian of religious orthodoxy in the Vatican, charged with safeguarding church doctrine and morals.

The position was previously held by former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before his election as Pope Benedict XVI.

"It's a quiet rumor that I have heard," current Portland Archbishop John G. Vlazny told The Oregonian. ...

Pope John Paul II decided that bishops struggling with clergy sex-abuse cases should report them to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As prefect of that particular congregation, Levada would receive reports and recommendations from bishops and decide what steps to take, Brennan said.

ALBANY -- Another alleged victim of the Rev. David Bentley came forth Tuesday, claiming he was repeatedly abused by the pedophile priest and saying he is seeking $4 million in a lawsuit filed in Boston.

Michael Cleveland, 34, of Albany, said he was one of four brothers victimized by Bentley when the priest served in various capacities in the Albany diocese.

"Starting at age 11, Father Bentley abused me and raped me in the worst possible way," Cleveland said at a news conference at the North Greenbush home of attorney John Aretakis.

He said Bentley taught him to fish, and the relationship soon turned to sexual abuse. The incidents occurred from 1982 through 1986 in Albany, Schenectady and on Bentley's boat in Boston Harbor and on Saratoga Lake, he said.

LOS ANGELES -- A Roman Catholic chaplain at the University of Southern California was temporarily suspended because a male student complained about inappropriate physical contact with the pastor.

The Rev. William Messenger, 55, was placed on administrative leave Friday from Our Savior Catholic Center while USC and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles investigate the claims, archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said. Messenger has served at USC since 1993.

Tamberg declined to describe the nature of the allegation, but the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that a male student brought the complaint.

A message left for Messenger Tuesday at Our Savior was not immediately returned.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005
By JENNA PORTNOY
The Express-Times
Allentown Diocese priests who abused children will be sent to a Schuylkill County facility for "prayer and penance," the diocese announced Tuesday.

Two priests and a clergyman appointed to monitor priests removed from ministry are living in a restricted access wing of St. Francis Center in Orwigsburg.

The wing can hold up to eight people and another one or two could be sent to live there in the next month, diocese spokesman Matt Kerr said.

The diocese would not release the names of priests found in violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by U.S. Bishops in 2002.

"This answers a spiritual need for them," Kerr said. "And again, it's called for by the charter. That's where the genesis of this came from."

A state appeals court, ruling in a case in which a former Antioch altar boy has already won $875,000 in punitive damages, has upheld the victim's right to seek the punitive award for molestation by a priest 25 years ago.

A Court of Appeal panel in Los Angeles said Robert Thatcher's bid for punitive damages from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland did not violate the federal and state constitutions' ban on ex post facto laws.

Ex post facto laws are measures that retroactively increase the punishment for a crime or change the definition of a crime.

The appeals court said in a ruling last week that the concept did not apply because Thatcher's lawsuit was a civil case in which a punitive award "does not amount to criminal punishment."

The court said, "We conclude the Legislature did not intend to impose punishment of a criminal nature" when it temporarily extended the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits over past molestation.

An amendment to the Virginia Constitution that extended the time for filing a sexual-abuse lawsuit was aimed at individual abusers and not at their employers, an attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond argued yesterday.

Lawyer Leslie A. Winneberger contended that the constitution and related state law requires the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Stephen Kopalchick, a 52-year-old Chester man who has alleged that two priests abused him 40 years ago.

Not so, responded Kopalchick's attorney, Edward L. Weiner. Though the amendment to the constitution in 1994 used the term "natural person," that language did not change the general rule that the word "person" includes corporations, businesses and entities such as the diocese, Weiner told Richmond Circuit Judge Randall G. Johnson.

Johnson said he would review the oral and written arguments provided by the attorneys and issue a ruling within three weeks. Trial of the lawsuit is set for Sept. 12.

The suit alleges that the diocese knew that the priests Kopalchick contends abused him, Thomas M. Summers and Andrew Roy, were pedophiles. Summers and Roy abused him at St. James Catholic Church and elementary school in Hopewell, the suit alleges. The school closed in 1992.

Priest convicted of sex assault plans fresh appeal of sexually assaulting a teenager plans another appeal of his long prison sentence.

Gordon MacRae pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three other boys after being convicted in 1994 of assaulting the first boy. He is serving a prison sentence of 33½ to 67 years and lost an earlier appeal to the state Supreme Court.

A pair of columns in The Wall Street Journal last week argued that MacRae was wrongly convicted, renewing interest in the case.

Ted Carey, a lawyer in a prominent Nashville, Tenn., law firm, said he began reviewing the case after MacRae wrote to him from prison last year. Carey said his planned appeal would focus on the length of MacRae's sentence and constitutional issues at his trial.

James Wells took the witness stand Tuesday to publicly confront the uncle and former priest he accuses of sexually abusing him decades ago, but James Janssen never appeared in Scott County District Court to hear the testimony against him.

Wehr also made several statements in open court to the effect that Janssen, who was an active priest from 1948 to 1990 and defrocked by the Vatican last year, admits abusing Wells and plans only to argue that the lawsuit was not filed within the statute of limitations.

James Wells testifies about evidence shown to him by attorney Pat Noaker during the second day of Wells’ civil lawsuit against his uncle, former Catholic priest James Janssen. Janssen did not attend Tuesday’s court session.
View Photo

“We’ve already made an admission on the record he’s done these things,” Wehr said while objecting to a question asked of Wells, 56, of Bettendorf.

An Albany, N.Y., priest removed from the ministry in 2002 for sexual misconduct is now accused of abusing and raping a child on overnight trips to Boston in the 1980s, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Suffolk Superior Court.

David Bentley allegedly sexually abused Michael Cleveland, now 34, over a four-year period, beginning in 1981, when Cleveland was 11.

The 17-page complaint also alleges that Bishop Howard Hubbard of the Catholic Diocese of Albany knew of and failed to stop the abuse. The lawsuit seeks $4 million.

According to the complaint, Bentley took Cleveland on trips to ''Saratoga Lake, Washington Park, and other areas to fish, a sport [Cleveland] loved as a child and which the defendant Bentley used as a way to lure the child." Cleveland alleges that much of the abuse occurred on Bentley's boat, which he docked in Boston.

Bentley engaged in ''vile acts of sexual abuse," according to the complaint, which also alleges that Hubbard engaged in a conspiracy to hide and allow the abuse.

Cleveland and his lawyer, John A. Aretakis, interviewed by phone yesterday, said he met Bentley through his three half brothers. Aretakis said Cleveland's brothers received settlements for alleged abuse by Bentley. Michael Cleveland did not.

DAVENPORT, Iowa A defrocked Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse almost 50 years ago was not in the courtroom for the first day of testimony in a civil trial against him.

The case against James Janssen started yesterday (Wednesday).

A 56-year-old man, who claims he was abused as a child, is suing James Janssen. In his lawsuit, the man claims Janssen abused him in the early 1950s and that church officials kept the secret for more than four decades.

Janssen has denied the claims, but the Vatican stripped him of the priesthood last fall at Bishop William Franklin's request.

Judge C.H. Pelton has ordered Janssen to be in court and ready to testify. The plaintiff's attorney, Craig Levine, says if Janssen doesn't show up in court, he'll move for a default judgment.

In a dramatic move aimed at dealing with the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church, the Allentown Diocese is transferring several priests accused of sexually abusing children to a restricted facility in Schuylkill County.

At St. Francis Center in Orwigsburg, priests stripped of their sacramental duties will undergo a rigid program of ''prayer and penance,'' the diocese announced Tuesday.

The priests, who have been removed from active ministry, will reside in a secluded, locked wing of the former St. Francis Orphanage. Their movements will be monitored by a proctor living at the center.

Two priests are currently living there, the diocese said in a prepared statement, and three more will be transferred in the coming weeks.

All are elderly priests from the Allentown Diocese accused but not convicted of alleged abuses that took place decades ago. The diocese said they agreed to be transferred to St. Francis Center from other locations in the diocese.

''Ultimately, there could be more priests living there,'' said Matt Kerr, diocesan spokesman. ''However, the facility has room for only eight priests.''

Nearly four decades after Christine Hickey was raped by her parish priest, the hardest part of watching ``Our Fathers,'' Showtime's new film about the Boston clergy sexual-abuse crisis, was not the fleeting scenes of molestation.

In the end, it was thought that the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church cared more about its fellow priests than it did about children that she could not forget.

``None of it was new to me, but it's still hard to fathom,'' the 48-year-old Cambridge woman said after last night's screening at Quincy Market. ``They put the brotherhood ahead of the children. I guess I just have to accept that.''

Bernie McDaid, one of the victims whose civil suit led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, fears that the scandal may be viewed as a thing of the past.

TARRYTOWN — The Archdiocese of New York is still waiting for the Vatican to rule on about two dozen cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests, and the election of Pope Benedict XVI could drag things out even longer, a top church official said yesterday.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been dealing with stacks of American sex-abuse cases since last year. But its leader, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, became pontiff last month and has not yet named a successor.

"Things may take a little longer," Monsignor Desmond O'Connor, director of priest personnel for the archdiocese, said last night at Transfiguration Church in Tarrytown.

O'Connor was given the post by Cardinal Edward Egan in March 2002, just as the national sex-abuse crisis was heating up, and he has been immersed in the fallout ever since. He had to sort through a half-century of allegations against New York priests and, among other things, is in charge of providing assistance to victims.

"It has been a massive undertaking in the last few years, and it will remain a massive undertaking," he said.

By KENTON ROBINSON
Day Staff Columnist, Enterprise Reporter/Columnist
Published on 5/4/2005

Gabrielle Azzaro says it began when she was a young nun teaching in a parochial school in Pennsylvania.

“I was teaching eighth grade, she was the principal,” Azzaro said Tuesday. “She would come into my bedroom every night and get her sexual needs met and then turn and fall asleep.”

Now, 20 years later, Azzaro has learned that the woman she says abused her is the principal of an elementary school in the diocese of Norwich. Azzaro won't reveal the name of the nun who abused her, she says, “because I don't want press all over the school. I don't want kids involved.”

But she has named her abuser to the diocese and asked that the woman be stripped of her position at the school.

Jacqueline Keller, spokeswoman for the diocese, said Tuesday the diocese is investigating the matter.

“We have heard from Ms. Azzaro and we're already in the process of addressing the concern she has raised,” Keller said.

LAKELAND -- An allegation was made Monday that a Catholic priest committed sexual abuse in Lakeland during the 1970s. The allegation was made in a neighboring county, but the man making the claim has not come forward to Polk County officials.

The allegation was made to Altamonte Springs police by an unidentified man who said Vernon Uhran, a priest at Church of the Resurrection in Lakeland from 1973 to 1976 and who also served at Santa Fe Catholic High School during that time, sexually abused him. Uhran was dismissed from the ministry in 1992 by Bishop Norbert Dorsey, who was then in charge of the Diocese of Orlando, after similar allegations were lodged against him.

Altamonte Springs police Lt. Chuck Stansel said Tuesday the man called him after an article in the Orlando Sentinel said the diocese recently had been contacted about old, but previously unreported, allegations of abuse by Uhran.

On Monday, an investigator spoke with the man, who said Uhran sexually abused him while Uhran was in Lakeland. Altamonte Springs police took the man's name and referred him to law enforcement agencies in Polk County because that is where the alleged abuse took place, Stansel said.

Neither the Lakeland Police Department nor the Polk County Sheriff's Office has been contacted by anyone making an allegation against Uhran, according to public information officers for those agencies.

DAVENPORT -- A defrocked Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse almost 50 years ago was not in the courtroom for the first day of testimony in a civil trial filed against him.

The trial involving James Janseen started Tuesday.

A 56-year-old man who claims he was sexually abused as a child is suing Janssen. In his lawsuit, the man claims Janssen abused him in the early 1950s and that church officials kept the abuse secret for more than four decades.

Janssen has denied the claims, but the Vatican stripped him of the priesthood last fall at Bishop William Franklin's request.

Scott County District Court Judge C.H. Pelton has ordered Janssen to be in court and ready to testify.

The plaintiff's attorney, Craig Levine, said if Janssen doesn't show up in court, he'll move for a default judgment.

A legal barrier that protected church leaders from lawsuits arising from their failure to supervise clergy was breached Tuesday when the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a sex-abuse victim can sue the Roman Catholic bishop of Portland.

In the 5-2 decision, justices said Michael Fortin's case against the church could go forward without violating the religious protections guaranteed in the U.S. and Maine constitutions.

The court ruled that Fortin, a former altar boy and parochial school student at St. Mary's in Augusta, can make a legal claim against the Catholic Church and not just the priest who he says abused him beginning in 1985, when Fortin was 13.

Fortin contends the Rev. Raymond Melville's superiors knew that the priest posed a risk but failed to protect his parishioners.

During a brief news conference in Augusta with his attorney, Fortin said he was pleased with the ruling. He said the objective of his lawsuit "has always been about accountability, and we are moving closer toward that."

NORWICH, Conn. -- A former nun is accusing a female principal of an elementary school run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich of sexually abusing her 20 years ago at a parochial school in Pennsylvania.

Gabrielle Azzaro, 51, a New Haven native who now lives in California, would not publicly reveal the principal's name, but she has provided the woman's identity and the allegations to the Norwich diocese.

"I was teaching eighth grade, she was the principal," Azzaro told The Day of New London on Tuesday. "She would come into my bedroom every night and get her sexual needs met and then turn and fall asleep."

Azzaro came forward with her allegations after learning that the woman is a principal at a diocese elementary school.

She said she did not want to release the principal's name to the public because "I don't want press all over the school. I don't want kids involved."

By WARREN HOWELER--Times Asst. Managing Editor
TOWANDA -- Some charges have been dropped against the pastor of the Church on the Hill in Milan, who is accused of allegedly fondling and kissing an underage girl.

Wesley Allen Nichols, 44, was originally charged with three counts of corruption of minors and three counts of indecent assault.

However, two counts of each charge were dropped following a pre-trial conference, according to Bradford County First Assistant District Attorney Al Ondrey.

Ondrey explained the counts of these charges were dropped after New York State Police filed similar charges against Nichols stemming from an incident that occurred in the Town of Barton.

Ondrey said in regards to the recent action in Bradford County Court that "as far as we can determine, only one of these alleged incidents took place in Pennsylvania."

An investigation by Altamonte Springs police into allegations of sexual misconduct by a Catholic priest ended before it got started.

"There was no crime in Altamonte Springs," Police Lt. Chuck Stansel said after investigators questioned a man who showed up this morning at the police department lobby saying he was a victim.

The man's allegations are against Vernon Uhran, 65, who once served at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs, but the misconduct he is alleging occured in Lakeland, Stansel said.

Uhran served at St. Mary Magdalen and Bishop Moore High School from 1969 to 1973, Church of the Resurrection and Santa Fe High School in Lakeland from 1973 to 1976 and St. Theresa Catholic Church in Belleview from 1976 to 1981. A decade in the Dominican Republic followed before brief stints at Melbourne Central Catholic and the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Testimony began today in a trial on a civil lawsuit alleging sexual abuse against a former priest in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, with James Wells telling the jury about repeated abuse decades ago by James Janssen, his uncle.

Wells told jurors he was sexually abused by Janssen — who was an active priest from 1948-90 — in a car, in his house and while swimming, sending him into depression that prevented him from holding a job or getting out of bed some days.

On cross-examination, Janssen’s attorney displayed letters Wells wrote to Janssen and the diocese in the late 1980s that mention the possibility of litigation, then asked why Wells hadn’t filed his lawsuit at that time.

Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan is not shy about admitting mistakes.

“It was ‘bassackwards!’ ” Dolan told Milwaukee priests in an April 15 e-mail, referring to implementation of two programs designed to monitor the behavior of troubled priests.

“Like the rest of you,” Dolan told the priests, “I woke up this morning to the headlines and article in the newspaper, and found myself upset. I’m perhaps even more upset than you all because I caused it!”

Dolan was referring to the archdiocese’s clergy advocacy and monitoring program (CAMP) -- an effort to supervise priests and deacons found to have abused minors -- and its “Clerical Support Initiative,” which would have subjected clergy with other serious problems, such as addiction or alcoholism, to intrusive inspections and oversight.

Following an outcry from priests and others in the archdiocese, Dolan suspended implementation of the programs.

A CALL for an inquiry into an evil pedophile ring operating in Tasmania for more than 20 years is gathering momentum.

Lobby group Survivors Investigating Child Sex Abuse renewed the call yesterday after former Anglican archdeacon Louis Daniels pleaded guilty to 13 counts of interfering with young boys between 1973 and 1993.

SICSA spokesman Steve Fisher said there was compelling evidence that an organised pedophile ring operated in Tasmania in the 1970s and 1980s.

"We know that boys were taken to parties and there were sometimes priests, doctors and even MPs there," Mr Fisher said.

While it operated largely in Tasmania, Mr Fisher said it also involved the abuse of boys in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland.

He referred to evidence in Daniels' hearing that a Brisbane boy travelled to Tasmania during his holidays and stayed with Daniels for several weeks.

By SUSAN EVANS
TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT EBENSBURG BUREAU
Growing up in Lilly, John Nesbella never expected to become a priest.

Just the opposite.

"In my high school years, I wasn't Mr. Holy Roller by any means," he admits.

"In the 1970s I did a lot of partying, and I was even in jail once on a minor drug charge. I was mostly away from the church in my 20s," he said in an interview.

But after college and a stint in the military, when he was 33, everything changed.

"I had a calling," he said, "a very clear calling, to become a priest."

And so, at an age when most are partway up the career ladder, Nesbella started at the bottom rung, in seminary.

It was there that he encountered homosexuality among priests, he said, and where his problem with the Roman Catholic hierarchy began.

"It was very open. It was scandalous," he said. "I thought maybe it's just that way here, but I later found it was the church's

No. 1 problem, but also the No. 1 thing that you do not speak against."

Now - at age 42 and after speaking out loudly - Nesbella is out in the cold.

After filing a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, claiming he was sexually abused at the age of 16 by a priest who is now dead, Nesbella on Feb. 18 was placed on a leave of absence and may not publicly perform any priestly duties.

A lawyer for Gordon MacRae, a suspended Catholic priest convicted of child sexual assault over a decade ago, said he plans to appeal MacRae's conviction and prison sentence in state and federal courts later this year.

MacRae is serving a 33½- to 67-year sentence for raping a 15-year-old Keene boy. He pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three other boys shortly after that conviction in 1994. MacRae's appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court was rejected two years later. Though his case has been dormant since then, a pair of columns in the Wall Street Journal last week argued that MacRae had been wrongly convicted, renewing interest in the case.

Ted Carey, an attorney from Tennessee who has been reviewing MacRae's case since last year, said his work for MacRae is independent from the Journal columns. He wouldn't discuss the specifics of his appeal but said he would dispute both the length of MacRae's sentence and the constitutionality of the trial that led to his conviction.

"In general, I think Father MacRae's sentence was too long for even what he was convicted of and/or pled guilty to," Carey said. "And I think there are some serious questions about the process that led to those convictions. . . . My overriding objective is to try to secure his release from prison. I don't think he belongs there any longer, if he ever did."

A 49-year-old Park Forest woman sued an order of Roman Catholic priests Monday, accusing it of protecting a priest she says sexually abused her in the 1960s.

Carmen Severino said she confronted her abuser last year as he lay dying in a nursing home. Although the Rev. Thomas Paramo could not speak, she believes he understood her accusations.

"I told him what he did to me and how it affected my life all these years," Severino said. "He began to cry. I told him it was no longer a secret."

Paramo died at the nursing home eight months ago, said Severino's attorney, Jeff Anderson.

Severino filed her lawsuit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court against Paramo's order, the Claretian Missionaries. The Oak Park-based order ran Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 3200 E. 91st St., Chicago, where Severino worked in the rectory as a young girl and where her uncle was a pastor.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Four more people have come forward, saying a former Catholic priest in Altamonte Springs molested them. The priest served at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church.

Channel 9 spent the day checking with local law enforcement agencies and no one remembers investigating allegations against former Catholic priest Vernon Uhran in the past. But Monday, a fourth new allegation has been made against Uhran to the Altamonte Springs Police Department.

The Orlando Diocese says three men have reported in the last week that they were victims of abuse at the church in Altamonte Springs in the rectory. They told the diocese, in some cases, the abuse goes back more than 30 years. They say the abuser was Uhran.

The diocese says got rid of Uhran 13 years ago, when a man in his 30s accused the priest of sexually abusing him. But Monday, a diocese spokesperson says there is no record of law enforcement being notified.

Uhran now lives in Orlando. Channel 9 went to his house to talk to him about the allegations, but no one answered his door.

The Roman Catholic chaplain at USC has been temporarily removed from his post pending an investigation of allegations involving inappropriate physical conduct with an adult, a Los Angeles Archdiocese spokesman said Monday.

Father William Messenger, the 55-year-old pastor at Our Savior Catholic Center, was placed on administrative leave Friday while USC and the archdiocese conduct an investigation, said archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg. Messenger has served at USC since 1993.

Tamberg declined to offer details about the complainant or the allegation. But other sources said a male USC student brought the complaint.

In a statement read to Our Savior parishioners at weekend Masses, the archdiocese and the USC Office of Religious Life said they had "received a report about a serious violation of ministerial ethics and essential professional boundaries involving inappropriate physical conduct" by Messenger.

A Park Forest woman ended what she said was 39 years of silence Monday, talking publicly about a priest who she says abused her at a Southeast Side church.

Carmen Severino filed suit against a Catholic order known as the Claretians, claiming it has harbored pedophile priests, including a priest who once led Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.

The priest she accuses of molestation is now dead. An attorney for the Claretians called it "interesting" that Severino came forward with her story only after he had died.

"It's unfortunate she chose a press conference to talk about this before contacting us with these terrible allegations," said attorney Rick Leamy. "It's interesting they've known about this for so long, but waited until the poor man died before filing a lawsuit. Now, he can't defend himself."

Severino laid out her claims in a Daley Center press conference that included her attorneys, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, as well as a Chicago man who filed a 2003 lawsuit against the Claretian order, claiming he was sexually molested by another Claretian priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe.

A TASMANIAN lobby group for child sex abuse survivors has called for a state inquiry into claims a paedophile ring operated in Tasmania during the 1970s and 1980s.

The call came after former Anglican Archdeacon of Burnie, Louis Victor Daniels, 57, yesterday pleaded guilty to 13 counts of interfering with young boys between 1973 and 1993.

Daniels, now of Charnwood in Canberra, is expected to be sentenced later this week or early next week.

Steven Fisher, a spokesman for Tasmanian group Survivors Investigating Child Sex Abuse (SICSA), today said there was no doubt an organised paedophile ring operated in Tasmania in the 70s and 80s, involving members of the Anglican church and others.

He said the ring primarily operated in Tasmania and South Australia, but also extended to Queensland and Victoria.

DAVENPORT -- Selection of a jury began Monday to hear a lawsuit accusing a defrocked Roman Catholic priest of sexual abuse almost 50 years ago.

A 56-year-old man, who claims he was abused as a child, is suing James Janssen. The man claims Janssen abused him in the early 1950s and that church officials kept the secret for more than four decades.

"This case involves sexual abuse. It involves issues of religion. It's also about the serious psychological problems" that the man now suffers, attorney Craig Levien told prospective jurors. "These are all things that are hard for many of us to talk about."

Janssen has denied the claims, but the Vatican stripped him of the priesthood last fall at Bishop William Franklin's request.

Franklin was responding to complaints about past abuse. He said 96 people had come forward to accuse as many as 25 former priests, but the bulk of the complaints named three.

Opening statements are scheduled for this morning in a civil lawsuit filed by a Davenport man who alleges sexual abuse by his uncle, a former priest in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport.

Attorneys spent all day Monday selecting eight jurors and two alternates from a pool of 56 potential jurors to hear the case in which James Wells alleges sexual abuse decades ago by James Janssen, an active priest from 1948-90.

A questionnaire for potential jurors set the tone for questions by the attorneys for the estimated week-long trial. The questions touched on issues such as sexual abuse of minors, religion and mental health.

“The questions and answers of which aren’t usually done in polite company,” District Judge C.H. Pelton said of the questionnaire. “There is going to be graphic detail (in the testimony), and we don’t clean it up.”

ORLANDO - Two priests who worked in the Orlando area more than a quarter-century ago have been accused of sexually abusing children.

The Diocese of Orlando alerted parishioners of the allegations Sunday. Diocese spokeswoman Carol Brinati said the claims were made last month.

One of the priests involved in the claim died in 1984; the other was removed from the ministry in 1992 after other sexual abuse allegations were made against him. Both served at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs in the 1960s and '70s, though not at the same time.

At St. Mary Magdalen, a letter from Bishop Thomas Wenski was read at Sunday's Mass to announce the allegations. The Rev. Charlie Mitchell urged anyone who knew about the allegations to come forward.

Officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando said Monday that they had moved swiftly to report allegations of child sexual misconduct against two priests despite claims by lawyers representing the victims that the diocese waited "years" to come forward.

Adam Horowitz, with the Miami law firm of Herman & Mermelstein, said two of the three victims the firm represents reported the abuse more than two years ago.

Kevin Shaughnessy, an attorney representing the diocese, said he met with an attorney from the Miami firm and the three victims in April. He said there were some differences in a statement issued by the law firm Monday and "what they told us in our meeting."

Shaughnessy declined to offer specifics, citing a need to protect the identity of the victims.

03may05
A FORMER Anglican priest who has pleaded guilty to 13 charges of interfering with boys, was himself sexually abused as a child.

Rochelle Mainwaring, defence lawyer for Louis Victor Daniels, told the Tasmanian Supreme Court today her client had been abused between the ages of six and eight.

The fact was not released in 1999 when Daniels was first sentenced to 12 months' jail for four counts of indecently assaulting a boy under 17.

Ms Mainwaring said Daniels, 57, had only just begun to deal with the abuse, but could see it had a bearing on his personal relationships.

Daniels, of the Canberra suburb of Charnwood, has pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including eight counts of indecent assault and four counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under 17 years.

ORLANDO -- Two priests who worked in the Orlando area, including one who worked at a parish in Lakeland more than 30 years ago have been accused of sexually abusing children.

The Diocese of Orlando alerted parishioners of affected parishes of the allegations Sunday. Diocese spokeswoman Carol Brinati said the claims were made last month.

One of the priests involved in the claim died in 1984; the other, was removed from the ministry in 1992 after other sexual abuse allegations were made against him. Both served at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs in the 1960s and 1970s, though not at the same time.

(A press release from the Diocese of Orlando acknowledged that recent allegations surfaced against Vernon Uhran, a priest who was removed from the ministry in 1992. Uhran also served at Resurrection Catholic Church and Santa Fe Catholic High School in Lakeland from 1973 to 1976.)

May 02, 2005

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A man who's suing over alleged abuse by a Des Moines Diocese priest said he's not the only victim.

John Chambers filed a lawsuit against Rev. Leonard Kenkel, his Dowling High School teacher, claiming sexual abuse when he was 14 years old in the 1960s.

Chambers said the abuse was widespread, and so was the cover up.

"It was very commonly known among the students of Father Kenkel's behavior," Chambers said.

He said Kenkel fondled him and many others during biology class.

"For me, we would be doing maybe an experiment, or a reading, or a paper, and he would walk around the classroom. He would come up to me and bend over to see what I was doing and start to rub my shoulders, down my back, down below the belt line, on the outside of my underpants, then he'd pull up my shirt tail and get inside my underwear and rub and kneed, and fondle my buttocks," Chambers told NewsChannel 8.

Belfast, May. 02 (CWNews.com) - A Belfast priest has come under fire for claiming a convicted child-molestor didn't really know what he was doing and was therefore "an innocent man."

Jude Lynch, a former head teacher of Good Shepherd Primary School in Londonderry, was sentenced to four years in prison on April 29 after pleading guilty to 33 sexual offenses against three teenagers boys, including indecent assault and gross indecency.

During the case, Father Michael Collins, a parish priest from Limavady and a family friend, said of Lynch: "He has lived all his life in a structured society where there are moral expectations but he moved out of that environment into a murky world. He is an innocent man."

But a counselling organisation for sex-abuse victims has criticized the priest's comments. Helena Bracken, regional manager of the Nexus Institute, said the remarks by Father Collins were disappointing and offensive to the victims of sexual abuse.

By MARC POWERS ~ SEMO News Service
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Lawmakers are moving swiftly to rewrite the state law criminalizing sexual misconduct involving a child after the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday declared it unconstitutionally broad.

Within two days of the ruling, the Senate Judiciary Committee added a revision of the sexual misconduct statute to an omnibus crime bill sponsored by state Rep. Scott Lipke, R-Cape Girardeau.

"If they say it needs to be fixed, we are going to accommodate them," Lipke said.

The decision's timing is fortunate, Lipke said, as it gives lawmakers an opportunity for immediate action on the issue instead of having to wait until next year. The legislative session ends May 13.

9News anchor, on camera: Tonight, a victim of child sex abuse warns the community about the teacher who abused him, a man whose crimes were never reported to police.

9News anchor, on camera: He's speaking out because the Archdiocese refuses to release the names of sex offendors it handled internally, to avoid scandal. The I-Team's Laure Quinlivan has the exclusive.

Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on set: This victim just found out that he's allowed to talk about the teacher who abused him. He didn't think he could because of this confidential settlement he got in 1993. but the 2003 prosecutor's plea deal with the archdiocese… lifts confidentiality requirements. victims can now… bring out the truth.

Altamonte Springs police this morning launched an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by a Catholic priest after a person stepped forward claiming he was a victim.

The unidentified man, who showed up in the lobby of the Altamonte Springs Police Department a little after 10 a.m., was not the same person whose complaint to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando prompted the diocese to alert parishioners in three area churches of the allegations on Sunday, said Altamonte Springs Police Lt. Chuck Stansel.

"I've never heard of this person," Stansel said.

The man's allegations are against Vernon Uhran, 65, who served at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs from 1969 to 1973, Stansel said.

The investigator hired to probe the 1972 unsolved murder of 13-year-old altar boy Daniel Croteau says he now suspects that a ring of about 10 pedophiles, many of them priests, operated a sexual abuse ring that preyed upon children at the time Croteau was killed.

"These priests formed their own Internet before any Internet existed," said private detective and former state trooper R.C. Stevens recently. "It allowed them to exchange information and strategies, share children, and rid themselves of them."

He has been investigating the murder for The Republican since last summer. His interviews of alleged victims, including those who have already publicly accused some priests, point to a conspiracy among some of the predators to pass around children.

Stevens said that Croteau may have had contact with multiple members of the ring. The only identified suspect in Croteau's death was defrocked priest Richard R. Lavigne of Chicopee.

Lavigne, who served 10 years probation after admitting to molesting two boys, has been accused by more than 30 others, including one who said the then-priest introduced him to another priest in Vermont who also molested him.

A FORMER Anglican priest convicted of a string of child sex offences dating back to the 1970s told one of his victims what they'd done was normal and natural, a Tasmanian court was told today.

Prosecutor Mike Stoddard told the Tasmanian Supreme Court Louis Victor Daniels, 57, was involved in numerous cases of sexual misconduct with boys as young as 12 years old.

Daniels, of the Canberra suburb of Charnwood, pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault and four counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under 17 years.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted indecent assault.

The offences occurred over a 20-year period while Daniels was involved with the Anglican Church in Tasmania, both as a priest and archdeacon and an active member of the Church of England Boys Society (CEBS).

Presbyterian Support is defending its handling of historic sexual abuse claims at one of its children's homes.

At least 14 former residents of the Berhampore Children's Home in Wellington have told police they were sexually abused at the home in the 1950s and 1960s by Walter Lake, who ran the orphanage for 20 years.

TVNZ's Sunday show revealed Lake's abuses in an investigation last year which prompted a police inquiry. Police were set to take action but lake died before they could get him to court.

Presbyterian Support has been criticised for failing to properly investigate the claims.

But Presbyterian Support says it can't investigate the 40-year old allegations without knowing who the complainants are.

The Rev. Dan Carroll, a Mesquite pastor punished by church superiors almost 10 years ago after he admitted sexual misconduct with a youth, has resigned his position on a regional committee that investigates sexual misconduct complaints.

The Dallas Morning News reported recently that Mr. Carroll, senior minister of Eastridge Park Christian Church, served on the Committee on the Ministry, which suspended his standing with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1996.

Some had questioned whether Mr. Carroll was suitable for the committee, which may soon investigate another area pastor accused of sexual misconduct with a youth from his congregation.

That pastor, the Rev. Larry Joe Crocker, was placed on administrative leave from Lakeview Christian Church in Dallas after he was arrested March 16 and charged with two counts of indecency with a child by contact.

Mr. Carroll resigned his positions with the Disciples of Christ in the Southwest and North Texas areas last week, church members were told Wednesday.

According to a newsletter, Mr. Carroll will meet with the congregation May 15 "to discuss his future with Eastridge Park Christian Church."

For years, Gordon MacRae wanted to tell his story. He got his wish this week, in the pages of one of the country's most respected newspapers.

In a pair of sympathetic columns in the Wall Street Journal, MacRae, who was convicted of child rape more than 10 years ago, is described as the victim of false accusations and aggressive law enforcement officials. People in New Hampshire familiar with MacRae's case call the Journal's portrait slanted and inaccurate. While it's unclear whether the articles could ultimately lead to freedom for MacRae, they represent the fulfillment of a campaign by inmate and reporter to tell a story that's obsessed both of them for years.

"Five years ago, this germ was planted in my head that said 'something is going on here,' and it was firmly planted - it's been fermenting all that time," Dorothy Rabinowitz, the Journal editorial page writer, said in an interview yesterday. "There was never a single moment I thought that this was not worth pursuing."

MacRae, a suspended Roman Catholic priest, has been in New Hampshire State Prison since 1994, convicted of raping a 15-year-old boy. In the years after his conviction, MacRae's appeal to the state Supreme Court and counter-suits against his accusers hit dead ends. Through it all, MacRae maintained his innocence, even as he pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges involving three other adolescent boys. Officials from the Diocese of Manchester were wary about pursuing further appeals on MacRae's behalf, a stance that bothered him.

So in 2000, when he was contacted by a Wall Street Journal reporter known for her work on wrongful sex abuse convictions, MacRae had good reason to take note.

His face crumples in a frown and his neck twitches when pelted with questions probing three decades of accusations of a stabbing, sodomy, abuse of power and fathering a child.

"Damns" and "hells" punctuate terse answers from the ex-Naples priest the Catholic Church trusted with the great responsibility of spiritually guiding the faithful, including children.

Those who alleged abuse during William Romero's 1975-76 tenure at St. Ann school and church in Naples say Archdiocese of Miami leaders vowed to bar the now 68-year-old priest from contact with children.

Instead, South Florida church hierarchy shifted Romero from parish to parish where he dealt closely with vulnerable teens and children, his accusers and their lawyers say.

The installation of a new pope is not expected to slow the Catholic Diocese of Davenport’s requests to remove four priests from the priesthood for allegations of sexual abuse against minors, an attorney for the diocese said.

“I don’t think the death of the pope will have any affect on it at all,” Rand Wonio said, because the Vatican responded earlier this year to all of the diocese’s requests to defrock the priests in the wake of Bishop William Franklin’s report detailing sexual abuse allegations.

The diocese sent requests to the Vatican in June to defrock the Rev. Francis Bass, the Rev. William Wiebler, the Rev. Frank Martinez and the Rev. Richard Poster. A request to defrock a fifth priest, James Janssen of Davenport, was sent at the same time, but the pope removed him from the priesthood July 28.

The diocese announced in January that the Vatican authorized a trial by church law for Wiebler and Martinez.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando alerted parishioners Sunday in three area churches that allegations of child sexual abuse were recently made against two former priests.

Hubert Reason and Vernon Uhran served at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs in the 1960s and 1970s, though not at the same time.

Diocese spokeswoman Carol Brinati said allegations against both priests came to light in April. Reason, who died in 1984, is accused of abuse in the early- to mid-1960s, while the allegations against Uhran concern the early 1970s. No other details of the allegations were available.

Somber parishioners left St. Mary Magdalen church Sunday evening after a priest read a letter from the bishop announcing the allegations at the end of Mass.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -- Trial was scheduled to begin Monday in Scott County District Court in a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a defrocked priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport.

The lawsuit was filed in 2003 by a man who claims James Janssen abused him decades ago, beginning in the early 1950s. The lawsuit claims the diocese kept the abuse secret for 40 years.

Janssen was removed from the priesthood by the Vatican in September.

The plaintiff's attorney, Craig Levien, said last-minute settlement talks on Thursday failed in the case. The settlement meetings were accompanied by last-day court filings that listed possible evidence and potential witnesses.

Several other people also claim Janssen abused them as children and have filed similar lawsuits.

"It's time for the truth to come out," said one woman whose husband claimed abuse by Janssen. "That's what's going to help the victims."

02 May 2005
A counselling organisation for sex abuse victims last night criticised a priest who claimed a former headmaster guilty of indecency offences against teenage boys was an "innocent man".

Jude Lynch, the ex-head teacher of Good Shepherd Primary School, Co Londonderry, was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to 33 sexual offences against three young teenagers, including indecent assault and gross indecency.

During the case, Father Michael Collins, a parish priest from Limavady and a family friend, said: "He has lived all his life in a structured society where there are moral expectations, but he moved out of that environment into a murky world.

"He is an innocent man."

Reacting to his comment, Helena Bracken, regional manager of the Nexus Institute, said it was disappointing and offensive to the victims of sexual abuse.

May 01, 2005

It seemed, at first, like nothing more than a novelty item in the news briefs, the kind of odd, meaningless side-fact thrown off by most major stories: "New Pope, President's Brother Had Link in Swiss Group." But a look beneath the surface of this innocuous connection reveals a vast web of sinister alliances -- and moral corruption on a world-shaking scale.

The network links a bewildering line-up of players -- the Bushes, the Vatican, bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and China's Communist overlords, among others -- in a staggering array of crime and turpitude: prostitution, pedophilia, mass death and war profiteering. Yet this is not some grand "conspiracy theory," a serpent's egg hatched in Bilderberg or Bohemian Grove. It's simply the way the Bush boys do business, trawling the globe for sweetheart deals and gushers of blood money from the war and terror they foment. ...

Meanwhile, Ratzinger spent his time on the Swiss board trying to bury the Vatican's massive pedophilia scandal, the London Observer reported this week. In a secret 2001 letter, he ordered Church officials to prevent police from learning about abuse allegations -- a theological innovation more commonly known in the United States as "obstructing justice." Given this criminal high-wire act, perhaps the good cardinal thought it prudent to cultivate some personal ties with a presidential sibling.

SPRINGFIELD – A Greene County jury says the state leaders of the United Methodist Church are liable for the rape of a church choir director by the pastor. The jury awarded Teresa and Sid Norris $2 million in actual, or compensatory, damages and decided to return on Tuesday to decide how much in punitive damages to award the couple from Springfield.

Teresa Norris said she was glad she pursued the case "so this would happen to nobody else." The church had offered the Norrises a settlement of $750,000 before the trial.

The jury got the case about 3 p.m. after closing arguments and after the lawyers spent the morning with the judge on procedural matters. Closing arguments were delayed a bit because a juror was allowed time to take care of some previously scheduled personal business.

The deliberations hit a snag about supper time. A juror got sick and had to be sent home. After the jurors ate supper, an alternate juror replaced the sick juror and deliberations had to begin again. The verdict was delivered about 9:30.

Teresa and Sid Norris sought damages for the attack on Teresa Norris in March 1998. They say the district superintendent and the church’s bishop in Missouri did not react soon enough or forcefully enough after receiving complaints about the words and actions of the Rev. David Finestead.

A jury of 10 women and two men recommended an award of $2 million to Teresa Norris in her lawsuit against the West Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church Friday night.

Norris and her husband, Sid Norris, sued the conference, claiming that church officials failed to act on warnings about a pastor Norris alleges later raped her.

After six hours of deliberation, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Norris. The jury also ruled that the conference is liable for punitive damages. Those damages will be decided Tuesday afternoon when the jury will return to hear more testimony on that issue.

Norris told the jury that she was raped by David Finestead, former pastor of Campbell United Meth-odist Church, on the night of March 25, 1998, in her office at the church. She served as director of music ministry at Campbell from Sept. 1, 1997, to April 28, 1998.

Written by Ugo Lancione, Vatican Correspondent
Saturday, 30 April 2005

Human rights activists have heavily criticized the new pope Benedict XVI for calling on Catholics to discriminate against homosexuals whilst trying to cover up child sex abuse cases by priests.

Last week the Pope, speaking through Cardinal Alfonso Lopes Trujill, head of the
Pontifical Council on the Family, said Roman Catholic government officials should oppose accepting same-sex couples after the passage of a gay marriage bill in the Spanish Parliament.

Meanwhile the British newspaper The Observer revealed how Benedict XVI ‘obstructed justice’ after it emerged he issued an order ensuring the church's investigations into child sex abuse claims be carried out in secret.

The new pope is also accused of sweeping under the carpet specific sex abuse allegations made by nine different people against Friar Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ. The pontiff is quoted as having said "One can't put on trial such a close friend of the Pope's as Marcial Maciel."

“It’s okay for paedophile Catholic priests to rape little boys,” said Conor Shannon, a former abuse victim from Ireland. “But not for consenting adults of the same sex to lead a happy family life.”

Even members of the Catholic community have been enraged by the new pope’s comments.

Twenty years after his arrival in Fort Wayne, Bishop John M. D’Arcy will say only that his old boss, Cardinal Bernard Law, wanted him to leave the Archdiocese of Boston.

What he won’t speculate on is why.

However, at least one person who knows the situation he left behind in Boston is happy to connect the dots: she says the red flags that D’Arcy raised over sexual abuse by priests ultimately got him transferred.

When the sex abuse scandal exploded in the Roman Catholic Church in early 2002, amid the thousands of documents outlining abuse and an active cover-up by the hierarchy, a handful of letters written by D’Arcy surfaced.

The letters, addressed to Law and other superiors, warned of the conduct of at least four priests accused of violence, alcoholism, drug use and sexual abuse. Beginning in July 1978, the letters continued up until D’Arcy’s transfer to the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in 1985. D’Arcy will mark the 20th anniversary of his new assignment this weekend.

“He won’t say it, but obviously the effect of what he did, it had to be in retaliation for him bringing to light this conduct,” said Illinois Appellate Court Justice Anne Burke, the former head of theAbuse Tracker Catholic Lay Review Board tasked to examine the scope of the clergy sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in the U.S.

"Don’t," growls the Samoan man, gesturing as he steps up to the microphone. The Herald photographer lowers his camera to a fierce tirade in Samoan as we eye the exits. We don’t need a translator to realise we are not welcome.

From the table at the front of the Samani Pulepule centre in Mangere, Samoan lawyer Olinda Woodroffe answers first in Samoan and then in English. "These are Herald reporters. They have a right to report on what is happening in the community and I encourage transparency." This only partly mollifies the speaker. ...

One of the issues which brought matters to a head is the case of Oselise Falefata-Scanlan, the former minister of the Mt Wellington Samoan Assembly of God who was stripped of his pastor’s credentials in March 2003, having allegedly confessed to "sexual sin with women of his congregation".

The censure was to be for a minimum of two years with the possibility of "restoration and accountability". But only if the AOG governing body, the Executive Presbytery, and the Samoan Committee witnessed "the fruit of repentance at work", something both say has not happened.

The matter is the subject of a complaint to the police of unlawful sexual connection, made 2 1/2 years ago by a member of the Mt Wellington congregation but yet to be fully investigated. Falefata-Scanlan remained in the church manse for most of his two-year censure.

When James Wells filed a lawsuit in 2003 claiming he was sexually abused decades ago by a priest from the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, he was the first to attach his name to allegations against James Janssen during an emerging scandal that year.

Since then, Janssen has been removed from the priesthood by the Vatican, faced similar lawsuits filed by seven other men and been identified by the diocese as a major perpetrator in 37 similar claims it agreed to settle for $9 million.

But a trial scheduled to start Monday in Scott County District Court on the merits of the lawsuit filed by Wells — Janssen’s nephew and namesake — will be the first time testimony and evidence related to the allegations are presented in public.

All of the legal questions central to the lawsuit are on the table for a jury to decide: Did the sexual abuse happen? Why did Wells wait so long — more than four decades — to file a lawsuit? Did he wait too long to be eligible to receive damages or does he qualify for an exemption to the statute of limitations?